Three Dead Saints
by pineconeface711
Summary: A blind prophet straight from the Garden of Eden, a martyr, dead saints, sinners, a prodigal daughter and the shepherd's flock is in danger. Revelations isn't looking to be much of a saving grace.
1. A Fond Beginning

Ew, he stepped in something icky. Now Lupa would probably chew his arm off or something for ruining his shoes.

But wait this was all blurry! That meant…yes this was a dream!

Still ew, though. He was stepping through dark, thick mud. Just a couple more paces and…finally out of the swamp and onto the craggy rock-sand terrain. It looked familiar this place. It must have been from the past.

It was foggy. Lots of fog wisps that clung to every awkward clump of black trees, every raw diamond dispersed in the ground. And it clung to him, almost as if it was alive, and he was the only thing that could save it. It made him very uncomfortable and nervous.

There was something sinister about this but not just sinister…sad? Yes, sad. This was a place he must have had great losses.

"Hey stranger." He jumps after the breathy voice whispers into his ear. And he has to get back on his feet. Then realizes who it is, well something to that extent.

"You again." The disillusionment is clear in his voice, and then he remembers why this place is so familiar. Every night he's dreamed of this place and this girl.

"It's always me." She smiles seductively, and two seconds later she's standing behind him on her tippy toes because he's too tall and whispers, "Don't you love to see me?"

He whips his head around and they're not even standing an inch apart. "What I would like is for you to tell me your name."

Another coy smile, and this time she appears sitting on a rock. "What color is my necklace?"

"You aren't wearing a necklace for the thousandth time in a row!" He stares at her bare neck just in case one decides to show up. "Every night you ask me that, but you have no necklace. I'm beginning to doubt you ever wore one when I did know you."

Now she's sitting on the branch of a tree that just popped up out of nowhere, dangling her legs freely. She looks as though she's having the time of her life. "If you know the color you know the name." She grins and he shakes his head.

He's hoped for the past three months that she would pity him and just tell her the name.

He hates this feeling. He feels useless, and knowing he's missing so much and can't get it back. It would be different had he not known sixteen years of his life were missing; he could deal with that. But he does know so it doesn't matter.

_Useless, useless, useless._

"You're not useless, Percy." She looks like she lost eight years and turned into a preteen. So small and innocent from her tree, speaking in a kind-rather than a flirtatious tone.

It's like a bolt went through his body.

"You're different! You didn't look same from how I remember you!"

_Yes, yes!_

Back on the rock standing in her adulterous ways, she grins, "Precisely." And the smile disappears, and now he hears her from under the tree. A dark ominous shadow cuts through half of her face. "This is who I was supposed to be." Even sadder she adds, "Who I would have been had you never existed."

Guilt forms throughout him.

And his nightmare is confirmed.

He used to be a bad person.

"I'm sorry."

She shakes her head. "It's not your fault. It's mine, really. It's my fault." She starts mumbling to herself.

He is just disgusted. With himself. "Who am I, and what have I done?"

"What color is my necklace?" He hears he whisper, and like the wind it rustles in the leaves and passes by his ear and makes him cold as the image begins to fade.

He opens his eyes and never felt so alone in the crowded cabin of Mercury.

There was not many words Percy wanted to say during breakfast. Then again nobody ever shut up for five minutes at the table to allow him to speak anyway. He wasn't known as the most talkative, or the most out going, the friendliest, the most aggressive, best swordsman, spot on archer. He was the kid who just showed with no memory.

For a while everyone was completely interested in him, and kept asking annoying questions he couldn't answer because, guess what? He had no memories. Two weeks passed and no sign came. No god claimed him. And so finally the other campers gave up, and went back to stabbing each other with swords or whatever they did for fun.

Lupa never lost interest, though. She was always looking at him in disapproval. He thinks that she must know what he did to the girl in his dreams, and gods knows how many other people.

"Oh, hey Percy! I didn't see you come in! I thought maybe you weren't coming today!"

Okay so not everyone lost interest in him. Everyone but two species in this camp. The first one being Lupa the wolf. And the second being the human he really wanted to tell to shut up and get lost.

Reyna Reyn Reynhem.

The most annoying name ever for the most annoying girl ever. And that's coming from the kid who doesn't even have a recollection of annoying girls.

"Anyway," She stretches out the first 'a,' "You _have _to be my partner in sword fighting. You can ditch your old sword and use mine."

A little part of Percy wanted to get up and hug Reyna. However, he would not make that mistake again. He hated the sword that was currently being loaned to. It felt all wrong in his hands, and made him look like a fool most of the time. Reyna's was much easier to use, but still it just didn't "click" with him.

"JJ-you know JJ from Vulcan-made me a new one." She kept going on and on about something else that Percy decided not to listen because, well, he wasn't into throttling girls.

He was really kind of angry at himself for being such a jerk in his mind to Reyna. She's nice. She gave him the tour of camp. Introduced him to everyone. She's even giving him her sword, and he suspected that because everyone loves Reyna, she had saved him from an unpleasant hazing.

But he also has to remember his "tour of the woods" she gave him after the bonfire. And by tour, she meant, "makeout session in the woods". When you've known someone for two whole days, and you're awkward like Percy, and not exactly attracted to the other person, and you honestly think you're getting a tour of the woods, things aren't so fun.

The worst ten minutes of his new life. Ever.

Nine of those minutes were taken up with Percy saying, "Reyna no!"

Percy would think after that little experience she would give up. She hasn't. Instead she holds his hand whenever the possibility comes around, and other romantic gestures she inquires that he would rather not discuss.

Unless he is losing his memory on a daily basis, he doesn't recall he and her ever becoming a couple.

Even if she backed off for six seconds, he still doubts if he'd ever want Reyna to be more than a friend. Because, well, he just isn't attracted to her. He's not attracted to anyone at camp. Yeah, he thinks there are some very pretty girls. In all honesty, he thinks Reyna is pretty damn hot. He just has this weird feeling with dating.

Like it's something he shouldn't do with anyone here.

That night after Reyna kissed him, he felt so guilty. At first he thought it was because he felt bad for her for not returning the same feelings, but then when she showed no distress over it, he still felt like crap.

Because he knew he should not be kissing other girls. After he came to this realization he wondered if it was because he was supposed to like boys, which when he asked the girl in his dreams if he should, made her laugh so much she only asked "what color is my necklace?" twice.

He felt Reyna pulling his arm. "Come on, come on." She tells him.

This means breakfast is over, and it's now time to make Percy look like an idiot, well for most of the training events of the day he does, but no one ever cherishes over how manly and heroic it is to row a canoe across calm water without tipping over.

A counselor from the Mars cabin had told Percy that for a beginner he was good. The problem was that everyone else was not a beginner. If sword fighting was a class all these kids would be in AP, and he would be in regular and would have to stay after three days a week just to get a C. None of the swords that he used ever felt right. He thought that maybe, just maybe with the right sword everything would make sense.

He lost Reyna for a minute, or maybe she had said something about getting her sword. It was probably the latter of the two. Either way he just followed the rest of the campers going to sword fighting and entered the pavilion.

Now the pavilion is just _great_ at boosting your fighting confidence. Sometimes it's iced over for the slippery effect, sometimes it's muddy for the swamp effect, sometimes-well all the time it was just unpleasant. Today it was dressed up as it is most days: sharp jagged rocks coated with sand. Lupa had laughed the first time she had showed him it. "Makes it more comfortable when you fall out of windows." And howled with laughter.

He wasn't sure what made him more uncomfortable: the fact that she's fallen out of windows, or that she's done it so many times, it's some sort of sick twisted joke.

He almost swore when Reyna came back. Not because she was back, that was inevitable, but because he thought he forgot his helmet.

Another thing about sword fighting: if you forget your armor and/or weapon you have to go the class without. Lucky for him, he pulled out the celestial bronze brain damage saver.

She gave him her old sword and kept her other hand behind her back. Finally a sword that had some weight to it.

She pulled out her sword. The only thing that seems special about it is it looks new. She reads his thoughts, "Sorry, I'm not one for bedazzled swords. It really doesn't matter whether or not it's encrusted with diamonds. As long as it kills, it's worthy enough for me." She gives a smile, and hands it to him to hold. It's a little to light for him, but that's good for her. She'd been complaining that her old one was too heavy.

He can see his choppy image in the celestial bronze when she says, "You want to know its name?"

"Sure," He wasn't one for naming swords. His old one was Death Blow, named by its former owner from the Venus cabin of all places.

"_Morsu_."

Biter.

"That's a terrible for a sword." He says quickly. It feels like someone electrocuted him. _Biter…_ He stares back at the reflection.

"Why would you say that?" Her face is a mixture of confusion, concern, and disappointment.

"I…I…have no idea." He replies. Did his voice just sound shaky?

He sees Reyna look very concerned now, "Percy…?"

And now he's not the only face in the sword.

He throws it on the ground and grabs his head. Oh it kills right now!

"Percy!"

He's no longer in the pavilion. He just sees flashes and images and snippets of words.

And finally he's standing there looking at the face of the sword on a cruise ship with a sword he could fight all day with in his hand.

_"Back biter. The sword that will truly bite back."_

And Percy attacks him.

_Luke._

A memory.

**AN: Reviews are golden. CC is taken seriously. Flames are welcomed with open arms.**

**You know you love me,**

**Bii**


	2. The Angry Ones

His whole body is engulfed in the swampy water. It's not so muddy as it was too viscous. As gross as it was, he doesn't care this time. He haphazardly brushed the dirt and grime off of his army cropped hair, and ran (although were he was going was within walking distance). And he gets there, and the fog is just the same as it clutches to his every fiber.

There she is. Right on her rock. In the same knee length, low cut, shapeless black dress with black fedora with its feathers on the side hiding the pins curls that reach to her neck.

"I want my sword." He says. What he really wants is answers, but he knows he needs the sword. _His_ sword.

"Oh, hero**. **Have you remembered something?" She says sweetly but doesn't look up, and instead draws meaningless shapes in the damp ground.

He nods. Even though she wasn't looking at him; he knows she understands. "Biter. Reyna told me that's what her sword**'**s name was, and I thought I had got struck by lightning." He's so desperate when he says, "I remembered Luke and his sword and the cruise ship."

Her head whips up and meets his pleading eyes when he mentions Luke.

"It was that sword!" His head burns just thinking about the wicked blade.

_It can kill both humans and demigods,_ replays in his mind.

"What happened on the cruise ship?" He knows she already knows the answers but does he?

Yes, he sort of does. "I almost died. I almost died a lot of times on that ship. By that sword, by Luke."

"Mmm," She murmurs, "You did. A lot of people died because of Luke so you could live."

His doesn't burn anymore, but his heart weighs one thousand tons. "I'm sorry. I don't know what I did to you, but I'm sorry." He sees her shaking her head. "I know 'it wasn't my fault. You had to die'. That's not true and you know that. No one had to die. I'm not sure why they all died for some loser like me."

"Someone had to die, and it couldn't be you. You were the only option. Your life was vital." She answers and is now looking back at the ground. Somehow her voice didn't seem to hold any emotion. It sounded almost rehearsed, but not as if she was trying to convince herself what she was saying was true, but as if she's tried really hard and really long to say it.

_Luke is on the floor. Right now he is Luke and only Luke. __However_, _he's__ losing control. It's getting harder and harder. But he does it. He thrusts the blade into his weak spot._

_Peace for the entire world. At last._

"Luke had to die."

"Luke had to die." She repeats so he knows he's right, and she wants to say that everyone died for a reason, but she knows it wouldn't do anything. She wants to tell him the next person that has to die, but she can't. It goes against the rules.

"You had to die?"

She sighs, "my blood is on my hands and no one else's." And she thinks of all the things one young person did in her name.

"When you say it like that," he says, remarking her dry and bored tone, "it doesn't sound sincere."

"Sorry. You're not the only person I've had to convince." And she still has that same image in her head

That sounds familiar in his mind. "You had to convince me before?"

"Maybe." Oh no, the flirtatious tone is back. He tries to calm the aggravating vibes building up. Ugh, but he was getting answers. Answers he needs. And she's avoiding them.

Which must not be a good thing.

Which means there's something terrible to hide.

"What are you hiding?" He knows she won't tell him.

She shakes her head and surprisingly the fedora with the black feathers and white pearls doesn't fall off. "I can't answer your last question. It gives too much information. You need to remember on your own."

"Why," he whines and she frowns. "Why can't you just tell me who you are, who I am, and what I'm missing!" He could be five years old with the way he crosses his arms and stomps his feet. But it's not immaturity.

It's defeat.

"Something bad is going to happen. And you need everything-the good, the bad-but mostly, you need to know you're not alone. And that you're standing here right now for a reason." She's looking off to the distance and her voice is with her. "You need to remember fast. You're running out of time."

Every hair on his body stands up. "I'm running out of time for what?"

This time when she speaks she looks him directly in his eyes. "You need me. When you remember me, I can help you." There's a wrinkle on her forehead and creases around her eyes. They did not used to be there. She used to be young.

_You're running out of time._

Yes, it makes sense. She is dying.

"You can't tell them about your memories. They can't know about you." She says urgently and not a second later he hears the voices. Voices that exist in the real world and not the dream realm.

"Tell me who you are!" All he does is plead, plead, plead.

"The color, Percy. What color is my necklace?"

The colors fade and swirl away.

Immediately, he opens his eyes and sits up. Maybe too fast, now he's sort of dizzy.

"Motherfuck!" He hears the voice of Dakota shout, "You fucking trying to make me shit in my pants or something? It's called chilling out. Most people fucking do that after being passed out for fucking three days. So calm yourself. No one is fucking screaming your name to come alive. It's like you're a fucking Dracula girl."

She's glaring at him like he did everything wrong. So it means for the millionth time in a row Nick broke up with her, and because Percy is right there and did something that displeases her, she has to be a royal bitch to him.

He hears her mumble something about getting Lupa and not to move. He watches as she jumps down from her chair and walks out the door, dragging her feet out the door and slamming said door behind her so hard the whole room shook.

That kind of greeting was exactly what made him feel warm and fuzzy inside after receiving a warning something terrible would happen, and he was running out of time.

Oh, and he wasn't allowed to tell anyone either. So once again he was all alone. And this time no matter how much Reyna clung to him he would truly be single-handedly by himself.

Before he could depress himself anymore the door made an eerie creaking noise and Dakota**,** with her pissed off face**,** and Lupa came in. Now it was time for Lupa to make him feel worse about himself.

"_Dakota, go get Reyna. She was there when this whole situation happened._" She says it as happily as she would if she was just asked to fish her cell phone out of the toilet. Oh, and the way Lupa communicates with people is quite unsettling. She projects her voice into your mind.

Because a talking wolf would just be ridiculous.

Dakota exhales loudly and for a rather long time and doesn't look pleased with her new task before she flips her perfectly executed messy bun and marches out the door. She would have said no if it wasn't Lupa's orders, but they were, and although no one is sure whether or not disobeying Lupa meant getting used as her chew toy, no one was particularly fond finding out.

"_You remembered something_." It's not a question. He doesn't have to answer her. Percy just gazes and hopes (for once) Reyna will dance her way in. "_Even better. You know something that you can't tell me. Tell me, __hero," _she sneers. "_What have you done._" Still it's not a question.

He trusts the girl who died for him more than this wolf. "You'll tell me something: what have I done to you for you to hate me like you do?" He feels good after questioning her in such a harsh way. Yes, he steered the question around. And using mind games, too. Percy feels like there is someone he used to know who would be very proud of him for using his brains in such a clever way.

Though, it's not just a distraction so he can withhold information. It's the truth. He knows that Lupa hates him. He sees the way she watches him. The way she never speaks to him. The way she avoids him.

In a way, she is afraid of him. The mighty Lupa of Rome. Scared of a teenager. One that doesn't know how to fight without his sword, that doesn't know who he is in general.

Yes, Lupa was terrified of Percy Jackson because even though he was unrecognizable to her, she knew he was so much more powerful than he was letting on. More powerful that he could destroy even the greatest hero they had at the camp. Jason.

_"I don't trust you."_ She growls in a low voice. _"I know your intentions, __hero__. I know where you are from. You're one of __them__."_ It was just a guess she had. He smelled like one of them. It made her stomach turn.

And then her stomach fell when she saw the utter mystification that stood out on his face.

_"What are you talking about?"_ His brows furrow together.

_Oh no, oh no, oh no. _How could she be so foolish? Why did she have to say that? Did she not know any better? But she was so sure he was a spy the dreadful horseman sent over. She was sure that after decades of silence from herself that finally the old horseman gave up, and had sent one of his own to find out what was going down.

She thought he planned on invading this camp. It made sense! With Jason, their strongest being sent away on the quest.

And she was wrong.

However, Lupa was a good actor, and even though there should be sirens going off because she made a terrible mistake, she kept her act. _"You know exactly what I'm referring to."_ How could she have sent Jason away? She hasn't heard from him in three months! Why hadn't she been concerned sooner!

"Uh, okay. If you want to think that be my guest, " He throws the blankets off of himself because this is it. He's finished with this nonsense. The girl in his dreams has some sort of reason for the guessing games, and she's kind of helpful too. And he doesn't want to admit it, but it's nice seeing her face and hearing her voice because it's all so familiar. But no, not with Lupa. He's not going to play any game with her. "But I'm going to go try to figure things out on my own." And he walks out the door and shuts it as Dakota and Reyna walk in.

Both of the girls stare at the wolf standing there with surprise written in her all over her snout.

"Did I just do all that fucking work for no fucking reason?"

_"You girls are dismissed."_ Lupa says and walks out the door.

She has some long thoughts to think about.

Why he's standing at the sword fighting pavilion, he has no idea. He knows he used to like it- sword fighting that is.

It looks the same as it did the last time he was there, minus the people. Right now it's deserted and quiet. A nice place to think.

He has his sword- well Reyna's old sword in his hand. He grabbed it out of the tool shed stocked with surplus swords no one wants anymore.

Just for the hell of it, he swings it. _Cling! _He hears in his mind and nothing else but the noise. And then he attacks the dummies and rolls and maneuvers his sword like he never knew was possible. He doesn't have to think he just knows how to control the sword he could never use before. It just feels natural almost as if second nature.

He likes this feeling an adrenaline as he goes from dummy to dummy (some even holding their own swords in odd positions that he smacks out of their hands).

And before he knows it, the whole entire line of dummies are a pile of straw at his feet. He's breathing hard and laughing. He enjoys it far too much.

Then a sword is right at his throat. "Don't you remember? I thought I taught to always protect your blindside?"

**THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU SO FRIGGIN' MUCH! *Huggles group of reviewers* To all thirteen of you guys, you made my day!**

**And thank you **_**The Midnight Doe **_**for the fabulous betaing**

**Oh, and to the people who didn't review and just added this story to your favorites/alerts, well thanks for liking it, I guess, but I find it annoying how people do that. You know who you are (and so do I, I get the email with the names). Bahaha.**

**Also, you should know, I stole "what color is my necklace?" From the episode of **_**House **_**where Amber dies.(:**

**Anyhow, always remember: reviews are golden. CC is like my BFF, flames don't bother me. So, yes, go review.**

**You know you love me,**

**Bia**


	3. Only the Truth

Oddly enough for Percy Jackson, having a sword pointed at his throat was not something out of the ordinary, and though he should feel threatened by the sharp side of the celestial bronze poking at his skin, he didn't.

Either this happened far too much that is was no longer creative or threatening anymore or he'd been in some pretty odd situations.

_You're the one that supplied a 1,000 pound dog with biscuits,_ he tells himself in his head, and almost automatically he thinks back, _I did?_ And the image of the huge, but friendly animal coming to his rescue in an open arena (one that's like a space while a crowd of monsters sit in a stadium that surrounds him.). Something in that image is missing. He is the only one present. _No, that's not right._

He hears the sword clatter to the ground, and the tanned arms swoop away. Oh, that's right; his head almost had been chopped off.

He blinks it off, and lets his feet and his ears be the guide. He runs towards the woods, only suspecting that's where his assassin would be able to disappear to without him being able to get a good look at him.

He moves through the trees that he can't name because he's never cared enough to study their names, and gets sap and leaves all over him. Now he doesn't care what Lupa thinks about his attire.

"Come back!" He shouts, "Come back and fight me! Then I can show you just how well you taught me!" He recalls the only words that the male voice had spoken to him. Finally he sees the figure; his back turned and head concealed by a black (or was it just dark blue?) hood of a sweat shirt standing as still as possible by the basin of the lake; the one where Percy shows his mad skills in canoeing.

Percy points his sword, and walks slowly towards the man who has no weapons, who isn't moving, who isn't screaming.

"Why don't you tell me who you are?" Now he is getting nervous. Usually when people appear like a statue with nothing to protect them, it means some intense shit is about to go down.

Still nothing, and Percy is now right behind him. He hears the rigid, unsteady breaths coming from the man. He drops his sword a little and reaches over to the hood. The fabric feels rough, almost uncomfortable but durable.

His heart is pretty much beating against his rib cage. He wants to know who this guy is, why he attacked him. With all the anticipation and nerve as he begins to pull it down he feels like he might just scream.

And finally as the ashy blonde locks of hair are revealed, a whole army of Roman demigod soldiers appear dressed sloppily (like they had one second to prepare) in their armor with bows, sword, spears at the ready. And now that Percy has dropped his sword and turned to face him. Lupa jumps from the way back and appears at his side growling, while Reyna scurries to the front, almost tripping but arriving in a matter of seconds. Her facial expression is the same as everyone else's.

Perplexed.

"Umm, Percy, you want to explain why you were screaming: 'Help me. An army of monsters is attacking!'?" She asks in a tone that is meshed between concern and _what?_

But Percy shakes his head. "Umm guys," he stares at the dozens upon dozens of demigods. "I didn't say, or scream anything. I was in the arena, and this guy came behind with a sword, and I followed him to right here and…" His voice falters when he turns around and no one is standing there. He blinks, and feels his cheeks turning red. "No seriously. There was a guy right there-" He points to the spot, "you saw it didn't you?" Percy glares at Lupa, who makes a whining noise in return, which he takes as a no.

At least half of the soldiers are starting to retreat, and go back to where they came from. Others are still just standing there hesitantly like Reyna. Lupa is joining the others that are walking away from this mess of a scene.

"I'm not making this up!" He shouts at them because more and more are leaving. "I didn't scream, but there was this guy. There was, I mean it! He was just standing…" He lets his voice falter when he looks at Reyna, the only one who hasn't turned his back on him.

"Just stop." She tells him seriously, staring right in his eyes. Her voice matching the somber mood that fills the air.

"I'm not a liar!" Percy wants to tell them all-every single one of them-but he just shuts up, and questions whether or not it was real or not.

Maybe it was a memory? Maybe that had happened to him before, and he was remembering it? No, it wasn't a memory. In memories he knew what to do, he knew how to feel, he could feel what was going to come next.

Right now he just feels like a crazy idiot. And alone. He's always alone. He wishes the girl from his dreams was here. She at least knew he wasn't crazy, and he felt comfortable around her. He belonged in her world.

He looks back behind him. The dimming the sun in the winter woods would make a perfect post card. Maybe he could mail to the police. _Hey, I'm lost. Come find me, this vacation needs to end._

He notices something else too. In the lake sitting straight in the bottom of it, remaining untouched and shinning is his sword.

"Percy?" Reyna says when she notices he's stopped.

He looks at her and looks back. It's gone. The sword isn't there. Just like the man.

"I'm coming."

Everyone avoids him that night in the Mercury cabin because he had been murdering dummies, and getting surprised by disappearing things, he hadn't eaten a thing, and his stomach liked to continually remind him through a chorus of grumbling.

That fact that he was starving, couldn't stop thinking about his sword, about the man, about the apparent screaming that the whole camp had heard, made it incredibly difficult for him to go to sleep.

But he had to. It was absolutely necessary that tonight of all nights he had to sleep.

And finally he feels the hunger melt away and his lids are too heavy to keep open.

There are no swampy, icky trenches for him to get through this time. No, for the first time he is standing on the weathered rock-sand with the jewels buried in it shallowly. This place he has potential to be a pretty place, but the fog that clung to you, the heavy, dense humidity that made you feel like you'd never leave, and the gloominess like at any moment it might rain. And there was another feeling this place gave him when the girl wasn't around; it made him feel despair that he might never get out, or see a single living soul again.

"What color is my necklace?" He almost wanted to cry in relief.

Then his heart sinks. She's sitting on her rock, but not in a promiscuous manner like she always used to. This time her legs are covered by black tights and ugly shoes. Her dress is the same but makes her body look square. Like always, her neck remains bare. The hair is now gray, but she tries to be cover it by the fedora with the feathers. Most alarmingly of all, the wrinkles have spread across her face and through her hands.

"I-I saw a man today. He tried to kill me, but disappeared into thin air." _Will_ she believe him?

"He wasn't going to kill you." Percy's surprised by her answer,** "**he was just trying to get your attention."

"He didn't answer my questions either." Trying to get his attention? For what?

She shakes her head, "He didn't have permission to speak. Ghosts tend to do as they are told."

Awesome. A ghost tried to kill him but wait: he was just trying to get his attention. Now that was believable.

"But I could feel him," He tells her, remembering a faint memory from his past of an old man with a younger boy. He tells her the mab was a ghost. The wind could pass right through him.

"That happens when they're given enough power from the Underworld." She rubs her neck, as if wishing her secret colored necklace would appear.

"He wanted to show me something?" He asks her tentatively like he's five years old.

She nods. "I believe you know what."

"The sword," he answers without thinking, and already knows he's right, "but it disappeared. Is my sword, uh, a ghost too?"

She laughs, "No, your sword isn't a ghost, but that was not his sword to give you."

He understands. He must return to the woods. He meets her eyes with crow's feet, and feels a pang inside of him.

"I'm running out of time."

"You're running out of time."

He gulps. "What happens when I fail?" He knows he's going too. Maybe he should just start babbling random colors until he gets the right one.

"Bad things." That makes him feel worse. "You're going to break a lot of promises you've made."

_Like the promise I made to keep Beckendorf alive?_ The thought flashes through his brain.

"Like that, yes, but others too," It's soft he could barely hear, but that doesn't mean he didn't hear the sadness.

"I'm sorry."

She sighs. "Just stop apologizing. Figure out who I am."

"But I can't!" He throws his hands up in the air. "I've tried. I want to know, but I can't!"

"Think!" She stands up like the wind, and once again, is less than an inch away from him, but there is no passion, no sexuality in this. "What color is my necklace?" She's just as desperate as him.

"You have no necklace!"

She grips his shirt collar and surprisingly throws him against a poplar tree. "What. Color. Is. My. Necklace? The color! What is the color!"

He tries hard to remember. "I'm sorry. I-I don't know." Failure, failure, failure.

She lets go and covers her face.

Everything fades. He has no purpose here anymore.

Percy opens his eyes. It's still dark out. It might only be two or so. He kicks off his blankets, and slips on his boots.

Carefully, he closes the door.

He is going to go to the woods. He wants his sword. He wants to gain something so he can get his mind off what a disappointment he has showed the aging girl in his dreams.

He's grateful the moon is shinning tonight, not quite full, but bright enough to make out the trees and rocks covered in snow. He's heard stories from Reyna about kids going into the forest late at night, and never returning in the morning. That does make him uneasy, but this is a man on a mission.

There. He sees the glistening body of water. He stands on the basin and half expects someone to push him in, but no one does.

All he sees is water and dirt and no sword. Instead of feeling a great loss, he feels his anger rise. Can he do anything right at all? No, he can't. Everything has to be just this hard. Of course the sword had to not be there. Why would it be there?

And because he is just that impulsive, he kicks off his shoes and doesn't pay attention to what direction they land. He jumps into the icy river, except it isn't icy to him.

It's perfect.

And he doesn't find loss of breath. Actually, he feels just that great. He doesn't even bother question why he feels this way, or why he can do it.

Then he sees her sitting there contently (maybe a little annoyed) at the bottom of the ocean holding the sword in both hands staring right back at him. He smiles because of everything that happened to her, and she's there.

She still has her silver glow and the tiara.

Looking at her smug obvious royalty (and not just the tiara gives her that regality. It's just her being born who she is.).When she looks at him.

Chills go up his spine when he realizes she is not dead, and his smile fades away.

She should be dead, and this is no ghost.

Funny, seeing how he was there when Zoë Nightshade died.

**Fourteen reviews = Bia being overjoyed. If I get Forty five, you guys get an update on Christmas Eve.(: Tis the season of giving, isn't it?**

**Reviews are golden. I'm lovin' the ways of CC. Flames? Lets feel 'em burn.**

**You know you love me,**

**Bia.**


	4. One Less Dead Saint

"Zoë…" He says, and hears his words perfectly as little bubbles come out his mouth. He's not thinking about how he is able to talk underwater, or how the sword got there. He's thinking about the very sorry feeling in his gut, and right now he feels like he might even cry.

Since when did he become so sensitive?

Percy sees the look into her face. The usually tough and boy hating girl gives him a face like she understands the bewilderment. Zoë opens her mouth to say something, but Percy begins to hear that hum in his head.

_No, not now!_

Quickly the hum recedes and is replaced by pain. A burning pain that makes him double over to hold his head.

He's screaming now, but this time the camp is will not hear him, and Zoë just lets him writhe in agony because she must.

She knows what's coming next.

Everything in Percy's vision turns black.

It's weird. The weirdest feeling in the world when he remembers something; he's always there standing center of the action observing, while there's another version of him doing and saying all the stuff.

_It's cold outside. The snow is all over the ground. He doesn't want to admit it, but he's almost sure that right here-right now-they might die. Thorn is cackling at his genius-ness. Surely his back up is coming, but for the brother and sister only._

_What about them? Most likely, Percy thinks they'll kill him. Maybe enslave Grover, Thalia, and Annabeth. It would be pointless to kill Grover when he has no soul, and as much as a filthy jerk Luke is, Percy knows he'd never ever even consider murdering the two girls._

_Maybe they'll torture him. Or enslave him? No, he's too much of a liability. He'll be dead by sunrise._

_It's a good thing it was Christmas season because right then and there did they got their Christmas miracle._

_The silver arrows dangerously shot by their faces, coming close enough to hear the whizzing sound they emit._

_"Permission to shoot milady," one of the girls says. This girl he knows. This is Zoë. She holds her bow that is loaded with one deadly silver arrow, pointed straight at Thorn, who couldn't be more pissed off then with this interference with the hunters._

_"Permission granted." The girl who has eyes like the bright side of the moon answers. She can't be any older than fourteen, but he knows she is, even though at that particular time, they still had yet to formally introduce themselves to each other._

_Diana? Isn't that what they call her? But no, that's Artemis._

_With perfect aim, Zoë releases the arrow, shouting at Annabeth to get out of the way._

_And then they fall-Annabeth and Thorn-into the grey-green ocean._

_He wants to scream. To jump after them._

_The memory picks up speed now, the oath that the sister made (what was it again?). Thalia freezing up in the sun chariot. The lost feeling he has for Annabeth at camp. The game of capture the flag. The Oracle in the woods._

_Then it's going too fast for him to comprehend. Images and motions blur together and become incomprehensible. Sentences and speech intercede with each other, so it becomes jumbled, like everyone is talking over each other._

_The fast forwarding stops._

_Did that really just happen? There's this horrible feeling in his heart and stomach. First Annabeth is being tortured but she is alive._

_In that junkyard. He sees the sister. He wants to go in, but she does it for him. So she does, and he thinks she's done it! She saved them! She must still be alive. But she's not. No, he saw her go into the trapdoor under that stupid auto-whatever-it's-called-foot. The trembling that rippled through the giant machine's handmade body._

_Electricity. It was no good. Stupid thing that a child of Zeus could only handle. But would he have wanted Thalia up there? No. He wanted it to be himself. He should be dead. Now that Thalia is back is there really no purpose for him anymore._

_(besides that of rescuing Annabeth?)_

_They call for her. Over and over._

One shall be lost in the land without rain.

_They're reminded of it, and with that dreadful feeling, they depart from this death trap._

_(its times like these when he finally sees how much Luke can hate the damned gods.)_

_Thalia drives. Zoë does not talk. Instead, she mourns, even though she's only known the girl for a few days. How is it that they could become so close in just a few days? Not that it matters anymore._

_He blinks. No longer are they in the car; this time they are on Mount Tam._

_The uncomfortable feeling that was procured on his mind lingers. It gets deeper and deeper, until suddenly it's in full blast._

_The pain is nothing like the searing he feels when Percy comes to remember something._ _This one is different. So indescribably terrible that although he is only watching his old self hold up the sky, it hurts just as badly._

_Saying all the bones were welding themselves together. That all over his muscles were cut into pieces as they were melting away. That he was set on fire in a barren desert. There were no words to describe the agony, no similes that could come close, no metaphors to make anyone understand._

_He understands what Artemis wants when her voice infiltrates his mind._

_Atlas is under the sky. Relief._

_Thalia has Luke at spear point. Percy knows that she misses him, and maybe even sort of has feelings for him. They go back far-their history that is-but never once does he doubt that Thalia could kill Luke._

_After those three long minutes, Luke falls. There is no way he could still be alive, not with the way his limbs are angled. It was such a long fall…_

_They rush over to Zoë. Oh gods, she's dying because of her miserable father, but also because…of her sisters. Of that dragon she used to feed._

_"Poisoned." Artemis confirms. And on her chariot they bid farewell._

"_Stars." They are Zoë Nightshade's final word._

_How many more had to die because of him? Or wait, now would it be because of Thalia? No, him. Thalia shocks them all by swearing to the oath to forever be hours short of being sixteen._

_He should have been a child of Hades. Maybe then the deaths wouldn't bother him as much._

_Now he watches as they're back at camp. He walks with Nico, who longingly wants to see his sister._

_Maybe he should just tell him that she went off with the hunters._

_"…is dead." Broken, broken promises._

_Tears fill the young boy's eyes. He shouts that Percy was supposed to protect her. He _promised _to protect her. Nico slams the Mythomagic statue on the ground and runs into the forest._

_Percy picks up the statue. It's one of Hades. Oh shit!_

_He runs into the forest. Annabeth, Percy, and Grover call his name for hours. He's already gone like he disappeared through the cracks in the rocks._

_Percy does not tell Chiron about Nico's heritage. He has a suspicion that Chiron knows this already. But Chiron does not question him any further._

The memories swirl together at lightning speed, and _wham! _They slam into him at such force that he falls over.

Which is kind of a shame because Percy was just getting back from doubling over from his head pains.

"Zoë," he repeats with a tone that is frightened, more so because he just saw her re-die. "Uhmm…" He says intelligently, and sees Zoë roll her eyes. "So, uh, how's the afterlife been treating you?" Even though he knows she's not dead.

"If thou by any chance would use the term 'excellent' by waking up in the middle of the Libyan Desert, holding this-" She holds the sword up, making bubbles swish around, "-having no memory of anything." Zoë stares at Percy, almost angry but more than that. He's seen that look before. It was in a mirror the day after he arrived. He wore it himself. "Did I mention I was without clothing too?"

As terrible as that is, Percy has to hold in the laughter.

He clears his throat, "so how'd you get here?"

She sighs, and rubs her forehead. Percy does not like the stressed out vibes she's giving out right now.

"I'll try to make this as short as I can," she starts…

_"Stars…" She says, and closes her eyes feeling the sweet moment of rest, gently lulling over her body. How lovely to finally close her eyes..._

_Two seconds couldn't have passed when she feels the deadly, burning hot rays of the sun baring down on her stomach. "Ah," she groans, and then she feels the searing of what could be molten material on her back._

_She tries not to scream as she gets up. It's hard; it feels like she's made out of rock and has no bendable limbs. She tries to open her eyes, but she can't at first, the sun is far too bright._

_She manages to force them open by looking towards the floor. The first thing she notices is the sand. Keeping her head towards the sandy terrain, she looks around. Sand, sand, sand._

_A panicked feeling crosses into her mind. There is nobody around. But wait? Since when did she need people to come to her rescue? She was a warrior, not a damsel. She is…Umm, what was her name?_

_Oh, no, this was not good. She can't calm the oncoming panic attack. She can't think of anything! Then she notices her bare foot, her other bare foot, bare legs, bare…everything. Oh gods, this is not good. Not at all._

_As she freaks out, she steps back. The sharp blazing feeling of too hot celestial bronze almost cancels out the stinging of the shallow cut that is new formed from this encounter. It hurts worse as a hot desert wind blows by, and adds sand to the cut._

_She lets out an old Greek profanity, and picks up the sword. The blade is proverbial in her palms. It feels like it's a part of her. She examines it further. Isn't this the blade-_

_Her thoughts are cut short by the large shadow that stands in front of her._

_A deep sense of hatred and betrayal wash over her. Isn't this the man she vowed she would kill? She doesn't even notice that now the blade is in his hands._

_Heracles… A downpour of memories come to her, but unlike Percy, she doesn't pass out, she just lets them flow into her brain as she death stares Heracles down._

_And thanks to the jackass who should be dead, Zoë Nightshade knows her whole life story. She also knows that she should also be dead, and doesn't know-or particularly care why she isn't. Just like she seems to have forgotten that she is naked in front of a man.-how she is living right now, but she does know that as long as she breathes, Heracles will not._

_He says something that she does not listen to because her mind is penetrated with dark thoughts. She barks something back at him in his mid-sentence in Ancient Greek._

_He starts running with the sword still in his hand. She runs faster than he does, and corners him at the huge clump of rock._

_"Thou thought this was over?" She says with a hint of delusion in her voice, "thou thought you could leave me all alone to die again?" She picks up a huge clump of rock, "sorry sweetheart, but this vengeance is more engaging than anything thee have ever done for me." She walks up behind him, and knocks him too the ground. One, two. Two blows to the head, and from her days of hunting, Zoë knows that he's dead or bleeding to death._

_Panting, she collapses off the huge wedge of rock, holding the sword she forged, into the hot sand. She smiles. She's never felt so whole since she woke up._

_Whole…_

_A certain feeling creeps into her that makes everything feel wrong. Oh dear gods…_

_"Congratulations Zoë Nightshade, you've just earned your life back." An ominous voice that sounds familiar but also strange wraps around her mind._

_She gulps as she begins to figure out the reality of the situation._

_What do they call those false images that appear in the desert?_

_She passes out, and finds herself in a gloomy place with clumps of jewels dispersed in uneven ways._

_"I'm sorry, Zoë, but this is how it had to be," a young girl Zoë knows precisely by name wearing a black fedora tells her gently. "You're going to need to give Percy the sword back, too." She points to the blade that feels all wrong in Zoë's hands._

"So here," she shoves the sword over to him after she finishes her tale. "Take it."

His hand shakes as he clutches on to the hilt. He feels nothing; no trace that this was ever his sword, nothing that attaches him to it. It could just be a random sword in the pile of them in the arena.

"Thanks," he says weakly, but suddenly he knows he must tell Zoë something else as they climb out of the water.

It strikes him that Zoë-like him-is dry after coming out of the water, and that-also like him-she was able to speak under water if she was only...human?

"I guess some traits never fade." She answers his question. He guessed she read it from his face.

"Zoë, you said there was a girl in your dreams? Well, there's this girl in my dreams too, and she looks exactly how you described your girl, well except my girl is aging like way rapidly, but that's umm, not the point. Well it kind of is, but you said you knew her name, so uh, what is her name? It's extremely important." He swallows after he spits out that mess of words, and she just stands and looks at him.

The sun has risen. The campers will be getting up soon.

"I can't tell thee the name, Percy Jackson." She sighs.

_Jackson?_ He didn't know his last name before.

"Er," Percy realizes something, "where are you going to go? Lupa can smell out a human, and then everyone will need to know where you came from, and you can't y'know really tell them because…well the girl in my dreams says they can't know. And I have a feeling she's right because I kinda-sorta call everything slash everyone by their Greek name, and you said you were talking in Ancient Greek, and this is the Roman camp, so they'll probably do something extreme, and umm, crucify you?" He spits that out quickly, and winces after it's said and done.

The realization spreads across Zoë's mind, and she nods, which makes him feel less stupid.

"Right," She nods. "I'll stay here by the water. It should be safe." She turns her head around just to check.

"But the woods are stocked with monsters." Percy does not like the idea of separation. It always ends up bad, like it must have gone sour once before. Maybe not too long ago. "Here keep this." He puts the sword back into her hands. For a moment their hands touch, and his face turns red. He forgot she hated physical male conduct, but he notes that she remains composed, so maybe they're actual friends. "I can't take it with me. Someone will notice."

She agrees. "Return at night fall, we can escape then. Oh, and get me a bow. I hate swords."

_Escape? _Since when was this happening? Percy doesn't have time to protest, instead he tells her goodbye, and makes his way back to camp, and to the inside the Mercury cabin.

Five minutes later, the morning horn sounds.

"Percy!" Reyna squeals, and he assumes all ill feelings are lost.

He just reminds himself to wait till nightfall. He can't wait to get out of this place.

"I think I'm going to stay and practice my aim." Percy tells Reyna at the end of archery class. Everyone has left by now, and gone to their cabin or elsewhere to chill out. The sun is about to set, so he figured he'd have a good half an hour to just take the bow and leave.

"Do you want me to stay or-"

"No. I need sometime to…think."

"Okay…"

He waits a few minutes until he finally watches Reyna exit. Finally, the sun dips into the sky, leaving the sky almost dark.

Deciding that the hearth would now be completely abandoned, and he would successfully be able to get into the woods unnoticed, he leaves.

It's kind of eerie, camp being so quiet, but now everyone is far away eating dinner.

His heart almost stops when he sees a small girl tending to the fire. She looks up and nods.

_Shit! _He almost screams, but then does a double take.

_"I sit by tending to my flame. Almost no one ever notices me, except for him."_

Hestia…

Nico di Angelo noticed Hestia.

Nico di Angelo wasn't supposed to be young in this generation.

Nico di Angelo had a sister.

Oh gods, the memory is coming. The pain!

He turns to the hearth again, and once again the girl nods to him and smiles. A nice comforting smiling.

But no, he can't pass out here, not where they'll find him. He stumbles into the forest. Miraculously he manages to get there.

_Thanks Hestia, _are his last thoughts as he succumbs to the past.

_The first night they see her is the night is the night Annabeth disappeared. Percy looks away, and then she's gone. He finds her again, terrified in the hallway. He tries to calm her, but then Thorn comes._

_He tries to comfort Nico after she's joined the hunters, even though he isn't entirely sure why she did it._

_They find out because of her knowledge of D.C. that she was born long before this day and age._

_In that snowy New Mexican city they sit on the stairs. He likes the talk they have, and wished it would go on longer, but they can't because the others come back._

_In the junkyard of the guards, she falls in love with the bow that changes from a hairpiece._

_To stop the giant machine, she has an idea. It was brilliant! He couldn't believe that she managed to pull off the killer task._

_But then it really is killer because now she's dead._

_The other memories fast-forward themselves, and mix with images of her: firing an arrow, scolding Nico, laughing._

_Then it stops, and Nico is trying to raise her from the dead. "It's not his fault." By this she means Percy._

_Nico finally says goodbye to his sister, and like that, she is gone forever._

"Percy!" Zoë shakes him.

Groggily, he opens his eyes. He's in the same spot. Zoë is hovering over him, her newly acquired bows and arrows spilled by her feet.

"I heard someone thrashing about in the forest, I assumed it was thee. Lucky I was right."

He just wants to lay down in the grass forever, but the thought crosses his head, and he jerks up, making Zoë blink.

"Knock me out." He says.

She almost protests, but then turns her lips into a haunting smile because she understands.

"You give men a good image, hero." And she smacks him dead on with the hilt of the sword.

This time he's right where he's needed.

"Your necklace is white, Bianca di Angelo."

The old woman, who stands hunched over using her cane for support, smiles.

And then bursts into flames.

**AN: Once again, you guys made me beyond the point of happy with your reviews. Thank, thank, thank you! And yes, I got my forty five reviews, but someone plugged the same review twice…so I didn't count it.**

**Also, please check out this website. For all of you familiar with the Percy Jackson and the Olympian fandom, it's an awards website created and managed by the famous storm-brain and Theia 47. You can nominate your favorite Percy Jackson fics and later vote for it to win. Yes, you may anonymously nominate. Now you may nominate any Heroes of Olympus fic, so please, nominate any of the stories in this fandom and vote for them. They start accepting noms on the 30th. Don't worry, I will shamelessy whore it out to you again.**

**You know you love me,**

**Bia.**


	5. Old Grudges Never Die Like People Do

One thing you should never do whilst riding a pegasus is vomit. Said pegasus will feel extremely grossed out, and even a little angry at you. Plus, the person who is sitting behind you will not enjoy seeing such a sight.

Also, Zeus might get semi-offended because you have just done something not so lovely in his realm.

Ask Annabeth Chase. She would know because she just did it. She didn't mean too, of course, she was just really nervous, and had the impending feeling of nothing-is-going-to-go-right lurking about. Now add that to flying plane level in the sky, and you get the recipe for an unsettled stomach.

All in all Annabeth was not having a good year. First off, (before this part of the mess was even in the equation) Luke begged her to run away with him, then Beckendorf dies, then New York City is invaded with Kronos' army, Silena dies, Luke commits suicide via her knife, the next great prophecy is spoken, her boyfriend goes missing, three demigods are in need of rescuing, it turns out Gaea wants to kill everyone, and her boyfriend is being held at the Roman camp. The address being disclosed.

Of course.

The address of the Roman camp was still unknown, which is a pretty big problem seeing as Annabeth, and the three others with her were currently trying to fly straight into it and break Percy out. Then again that may not happen if Jason can't jog his memory enough.

Annabeth had to give it to Jason, though. He was trying to remember; he definitely wanted too. Unlike Jason, Thalia was not helpful at all.

Annabeth had gone to her friend weeks ago after Chiron had decided to tell them about the camp's existence. A complete emergency meeting was scheduled. All cabins had to be represented if the cabins had representatives. Meaning Hera and Hestia's would have no one, but Artemis's would.

So the hunters came.

She had pulled Thalia aside, and trying to be a supportive friend asked her for the full story about Jason.

Thalia answered bluntly, "Yeah, he's my brother. I lost him at this park place like a decade ago."

Assuming her oldest and best friend was hurt by the whole thing, Annabeth didn't press her any longer for the details.

Until two weeks later when the mission really needed to be furthered.

"Any description at all that you can think of?" She asked and once again, she made it gentle and kind.

"I don't know. Some trees, I guess."

"What about the state? Do you know where it was. Jason doesn't remember much, except for Lupa, and what can be found inside, but I doubt we'll be able to detect that. Most likely it's secured by heavy mist." She told her.

Thalia shrugged, "I've blocked that section out of mind for years. Who even knows if it was inside this country?"

The calm veil was able to stay over Annabeth's face, but on the inside she was ready to lose it.

"Thales, I'm your best friend, okay? I really, really need your help again. We've always had each other's backs. I need you to try and unblock that part, okay?"

"Can't do." She shrugged again, and walked away from Annabeth, leaving her behind in the lightly snow covered grass.

So much for the holiday spirit of giving.

Thankfully, Chiron and Jason were helpful, unlike how Thalia decided to be. They were able to narrow their search down to California, and because Annabeth was an expert when it came to her least favorite state, they were able to narrow down the places to search.

And that's where she found herself right now on Big Boy-the Pegasus also carrying Jason-leading the way so Thalia and Nico (they figured the only way Nico wouldn't get blasted by Zeus was if he was seated next to his daughter.) would follow.

It was a tough decision on who ought to journey to the site. Essentially, it was Annabeth and Jason's quest. No one doubted that. They were going. And because of this great year Annabeth had been having when the two confronted the Oracle, she sprouted no prophecy. No clues who they should take, nothing about what they would encounter. Almost as if no problem existed at all.

Thalia just invited herself to go, much to the are-you-fucking-me? thoughts that rolled around in Annabeth's head. Of course Chiron thought the powerful demigod should go.

Nico decided to tag along because, "we need to get the Big Threes back together again." Clearly, he was either looking for another escape from camp, or had become big headed.

Looking down into the desert made Annabeth panic more. Everything looked dead. Dunes of sand looked perfectly sculpted and remained untouched. The mountains lie low and blue. It looked so perfect, so content. No signs of disturbance. Nothing to prove anything ever lived there.

She shifted her eyes around until she fixed them on a certain part, just as sand filled and identical to the rest of the place.

"There," she said to herself quietly. "Prepare for landing." She shouts, and Big Boy dives down into the spot. She only hopes that they're half as nervous as she is. Then again how can you not be nervous in a place called Death Valley?

It's odd how the mist can fool any and everyone; once they broke through it, it no longer looked like a desert, but a camp where demigods trained.

And seeing as it was eleven PM, it was also a ghost town.

Reason number one for transportation via flying horse: Give it a mission to find a child of Poseidon, and it'll do anything you please.

Reason number two: Being magical and mythical creatures, they can get past the heavy mist.

Reason number three: They land quietly, and therefore no sign of intrusion, and able to catch the Romans off guard.

But for a bright girl, Annabeth was being incredibly stupid.

She forgot to factor in that a wolf ran that camp. A wolf that although, did raise Romulus, and trained these demigods, was still an animal.

And we all know what animals do better than humans: Hear and smell their prey.

So even though three of the four—as planned, Annabeth dismounted from Big Boy. Jason gave her a reassuring smile, and then Big Boy with Jason flew off. Not too far but far enough-had their weapons prepared. Lupa would be damned if a bunch of Greeks thought they were so clever.

Which is why she came jumping-landing effortlessly-right in front of the trio; she had her fangs barred and claws out in a dramatic fashion. She also scared most of them shitless, but then again, she intended too.

Her hackles raised (because she could smell a Greek a mile away), and growled, "_what do you think you're doing here?_"

It was more than just how she just appeared like that for why heartbeats beat before anyone said anything. It was the way she talked. Is talking the right way to explain how she uses her voice? Maybe it was because Chiron and Grover and all the animals hybrids they've encountered all had just talked talked, like with their mouths. Or maybe it was because Thorn and the Spinx were the same as the aforementioned. Lupa's words, they heard them in their minds. It was sort of scary. Sort of like someone was playing with your thoughts, telling you what to think.

And also, her too-large-to-be-a-normal wolf, barring fangs, and staring at you with hard, cold, merciless eyes didn't help.

It was Annabeth who spoke first:

"We've come to make a truce. Greeks and Romans."

Lupa's eyes shone with great amusement, and she cackled, _"and why should we?"_

Annabeth didn't like the sound of Lupa's tone that was also sort of invading the privacy of her mind. She knew it wasn't going to be easy but…

"Why shouldn't you?" Thalia scoffed, looking just as amused as the wolf. "Umm how about because it would make the difference between the end of the world-no wait-the end of the universe," she corrected herself. "Or y'know because it's time to get over this bullshit. It's time to come out of the closet," she smirked, "come out of the dark. Let's do this thing with the lights on."

Annabeth couldn't believe her best friend. She was so haughty and unbelievable. That crown she wore around her head was well, getting to her head. She was a royal pain in the ass.

Lupa had almost faltered her steely, hardened look when Thalia spoke of the end of the universe, ignoring the rest of the girl's snarky little speech. That concerned Lupa, but no. It was probably just a line made up by Chiron to make her consider it a truth. She knew it wasn't true. It couldn't be. Not with the titans last summer.

"_Get out of my camp_," she snarled, poising her body to ready for an attack. "_I will have my soldiers will tear you to pieces if you so choose. Disobedience deserves punishment. Only by discipline will you become worthy. _"

"I'd like to see them try." Thalia hissed before Annabeth could even negotiate.

If wolves could smile, Lupa just gave the most cunning smile and howled.

"I thought you were supposed to be good with wolves." Nico whispered, glaring at the forever fifteen year old.

Seconds later, they could hear the scuffling in the cabins, and not a minute could have passed when the Romans began to pile out of their cabins. Full armor and weapons at the ready.

"I thought they were Romans, not Minutemen." Thalia ridiculed. Although, she had had to have been just as impressed as the other two were.

It's a good thing Annabeth had good plans, or else they would be in some deep problems right now.

"_Say your prayers, __cherubs._" Lupa then turned around to the crowd of what had to have been at least two hundred heavily armed-and protected-teenagers who in turn were staring fiercely at them. "_Bear in mind what I am about to tell you might shock you, but I swore a sacred oath that I should never speak of it. However, it seems as though my counterpart has broken his side._" Annabeth gave her an angry glance. The way she speaks about Chiron as if he's inferior. "_The gods we worship have another side to them. A side that came before us. One less fierce, easily to be defeated. Weak. Inept. Too the point where the mighty Roman Empire conquered them_."

_Oh definitely_, Annabeth thinks sarcastically, _exactly how Percy took down Kronos. _Because he was so easy to defeat.

"_The Greeks!_" A gasp is heard comes from the crowd. "_You know how I feel about the Greeks. They are nothing compared to us_!" She keeps her voice on edge, dramatizing the whole speech. "_Decades ago-in what you may know as the Civil War-they overwhelmed us with strategy. We were too confident. They kicked us out of our rightful territory. Made us start from scratch. I hid us so they could never find us again. Alas! They have." _She whips her nuzzle to Thalia, Annabeth, and Nico. "_And they want a truce? Or so they the world will fall?_" she says it like it's the best joke ever thought of.

The crowd laughs.

"_Tell me, my warriors, what should we do to them?_"

"'All enemies of the state of our property are to be killed before they kill us.'" The soldiers declared in unison.

This wasn't something Annabeth wanted to deal with.

"Just give us Percy Jackson, and we'll leave." She said. Her voice almost reaching into begging territory.

"And come back later with an army and force you on our side." Thalia muttered.

A wave of confusion swept over the crowd. Uncertain murmuring could be heard around.

Lupa's suspicions about the boy were right. "_Percy… Jackson, you say is his surname?" _Percy Jackson. The name annoys her even more now._ "The boy is dead_."

Nico clenched his jaw tight, but remained firm.

Her heart was no longer beating, Annabeth had decided. They were too late. She couldn't believe it, like she couldn't believe there were tears spilling out of her eyes. Looking so weak in front of the enemy.

Thalia slammed her spear into the Earth. She brought it down so forcefully, the ground shook, and some of the Romans toppled over.

"Which one of you did it? Who killed him?" She screamed.

Lupa, obviously satisfied with the anguish, answered calmly. "_Unimportant. Useless information, really_."

"You better hope you're fucking immortal like Chiron, 'cause I will tear your throat out, and wear your hide as my trophy." Thalia snarls just like Lupa. "You wanna fight." She barks at the soldiers. "Try me." She holds her spear cackling with raw energy.

"Thalia," Annabeth hisses. Oh, she hates them, but she knows smart battle tactic, and this…this won't work. "We can't-"

"_You hear her. Fight!"_ Lupa roars. And then the Romans storm down the hill.

Once again, Annabeth outsmarts her enemies with only a shrill whistle.

The two Pegasus (Blak Keyat had flown off before Lupa came to them.) appear from the sky, until landing in front of the charging teenagers.

Best of all, Jason is clearly able to be seen, which is what makes them stop.

"Umm, I think it's time to leave?" He says to the trio.

None of the Romans move.

They each climb on board their pegasus as quick as possible.

And before they fly away, they see the deep hurt etched all over Lupa's face.

It was a silent ten minute ride when they land somewhere in Nevada.

"He's not dead, you know." Nico says when they land. The silence got to be too uncomfortable. "I would know. She's bluffing. His spirit…I just know, there's no way he could be dead."

Annabeth had figured that much, but still it was relieving to hear it.

"Where do we go from here?" Thalia questions, looking directly at Annabeth. She looks just as relieved.

Annabeth rubs her head. "I can't think straight right now. Rest is what we need." She grabs her backpack, and jumps on Big Boy.

Thanks to Thalia's hunter skills, the campsite is made in a matter of fifteen minutes. It's still dark outside, and the chill of no sun is in full swing.

They sit around the fire, passing canteens of water and strips of beef jerky.

"Do you think I was as bad as they were?" Jason stares into the fire. Those are the first words he's said since coming to their rescue. "How many innocent people did I kill?" He questions, but this time it's not to them. It's a question he asks to himself.

**AN: I once again have had my days entirely boosted by your reviews. Hearts for all.**

**IT'S NOMINATING SEASON: http:/ fanmortals .webs. com/ (delete the spaces)**

**To my anonymous reviewers:**

**Too Lazy To Log In- Can you correct my Olde English. I know it must have been horrible; God knows I was making it up as I went. Thank you for telling me. It's deff appreciated.(:**

**FlyingPinkBunny- As a matter of fact I did. I believe I stated it in one of my AN's…**

**Also, I'm not sure when my next update will be. I **_**/have**_**/ to finish my science fair over the next two weeks, and right after I complete that and turn it in, midterms start. And I'm surpressing my dire need to write more **_**Blue Bloods **_**and **_**Black Swan **_**fics. *innocent* Now excuse me while I go watch **_**Pretty Little Liars**_**.**

**Reviews are my life. CC is the best. Flames are tolerated.**

**You know you love me,**

**Bia.**


	6. Signs of Deception

_February 28, 2011_

_Aali Al Harim, the son of the wealthy mathematician, Professor Adil Harim, was declared to be officially a missing person today. Harim was reportedly on vacation with his father in Libya-their native country- when Harim went missing. According to Professor Harim, his son claimed to be going out with friends the day of the twelfth of February. He never returned home. In journal entries found yesterday, it was believed the fifteen year old has run away. This journal had entries on how Harim wanted to "leave town, be on my own." and "I hate this place. I'm going to escape one of these days…" Two days before he went missing, the following was dated in the journal, "so long and goodbye. Nice knowing you."_

_Witnesses claim to have seen a boy that fits the description of Harim hanging around the entrance of the Libyan Desert. Some who live near the desert claim to have heard a shriek that may have been male later that night._

_It's not clear whether or not Harim is alive or dead._

_Harim was described as "loving, kind, and smart" by the ones who know him_

_Harim stands five foot eight. Fifteen years of age. Arabic complexion. Short cropped black hair and "his mother's lovely gray eyes"._

_Anyone with information is urged to report it. The reward being offered from Professor Harim stands at two hundred fifty thousand United States dollars._

"I know you feel uncomfortable in Persephone's Garden, believe me, it's not my cup of tea either, but really it's the only nice-ish place down here."

It was calm and quiet. The flames had receded, and before his eyes stood the twelve year old girl he knew.

"We're in Persephone's Garden?" He asks. "We're in the Underworld?" This place was so familiar. Why would the place of the dead be like that? Did he die like Zoë?

"Yep. Not for long though. You remembered who I was, therefore my father has agreed to release my spirit for a bit…" She trailed off.

"Huh?" He knew she was a child of Hades, but she's dead. Percy knew from a feeling he had within that once someone was dead they should remain in the place of the dead. And didn't Nico try to raise her from the dead before?

"You need me, Percy. If you want to keep the world from destruction, you're going to need me. Correction: you do need me. The dead know things that the living don't."

Percy didn't like how this sounded. World destruction? Not good. Him having to prevent it? Also not sounding too swell.

"We need Zoë too, I'm guessing."

Bianca nodded.

"So what are we doing?"

It felt like the room dropped about twenty degrees.

"I'm sorry," she said, and he could tell she was trying hard not to cry. This was worse. He did not want to hear this. "I just thought I should start with that, but Percy, tell me: how old am I?"

"Old," Percy said automatically. "Much older than me."

"Yes," Bianca answers. "Why was it bad for you, specifically when Nico and I were discovered?"

He had to think for a moment before replying. "You and Nico…were children of Hades…the Big Three. And Thalia… I-I was like you guys. And with you…you could have replaced me. Hades locked you in a hotel until I came along, and Nico…I was trapped in the Underworld…."

"Why did Hades put you there?" She stops him before he could potentially look any stupider.

He knew this answer. "So it could be Nico." He wasn't sure what "it" meant, but Hades wanted "it" to be Nico. He pauses before adding: "Even though Hades thought you were a better match, but…you were dead by then."

Bianca gives an approving smile. He found that ironic. Oh sure let's have you're brother do the job instead because: bummer you're dead!

"Backtrack for a minute," she tells him. "When technically, I am older than you, right?" He nods. "Why was I kept from getting older?"

He doesn't enjoy these questions anymore. He feels what they are building up to, and he does not like this. Not at all.

"To keep you safe. So you would never turn sixteen, and then decades later I turned sixteen. I-"

"Took the job the Fates assigned to me," she confirms.

Now Percy really wants the conversation to end. "We're not supposed to mess with our fate."

Sadly, she agrees with a gesture of her head. "Which is why Gaea is awakening now. My _father_ and _mother_," Bianca says those words like their acidity level is a perfect one on the pH scale, "made bad choices, well the Big Three did, really, but because of them we're paying for it."

The sweet girl Percy had known as Bianca was gone. Nowhere in sight from her last remark. This, he believed, was a true child of Hades. And one that he did not want to get to know. She also reminded him of someone else who once cursed the gods…

"You get to save the world this time?" It felt colder in the Underworld now that he knew it was the Underworld. The anomalous feeling was not that this was the land of the dead. It was that this was where dead people belonged, and Percy felt right at home. Maybe it was because this wasn't the Roman camp because he knew he didn't belong there? Maybe it was because this was part of his past?

"Something like that," Bianca grumbles and fails to meet his eyes.

"At least you won't have to worry about dying this time," he tells her and smiles. But apparently humor is not his forte because she does not smile.

"No, Percy Jackson. This time I get to live, and it's only because you are going to die."

Or at least that's what she wanted to say but didn't.

Zoë was glad that Percy was not one to scream whilst in pain. Otherwise, every time he remembered something and got one of those pesky headaches, they'd be screwed.

She was, however, getting increasingly annoyed with these fainting spells.

Not knowing what else to do, she grabbed the bow and arrows he had brought her. They were all right, she supposed. Nothing like the fine quality of what she was use to with the hunters.

Thinking of the hunters made her nostalgic. There was no rule stating one could not join after coming back from the dead, or one not allowing you after you committed murder. Still, even at this point, many months before the threads wove themselves together, she knew that after this quest, she would not be allowed entry into the hunters. The only group she had come to know as family.

She considered Bianca her sister. They hadn't known each other for more than a week; still that oath tied the girls together in more ways than one. It brings you closer, and suddenly there is no longer any need to keep secrets. Bianca had known everything there was to know about Zoë before Bianca met her fate. Zoë knew a lot about the girl too. When she died, it was the worst pull one could inflict on her heartstrings. And believe Zoë, she's had some damn good damage with her heart.

Zoë thought she had made peace with the world at her death. She hated to admit, but she missed being dead. When you're dead in Elysian everything is just nicer. No more troubles or problems. No fretting what's going to happen to you because you're already dead.

Her being who she is, of course couldn't have been allowed eternal bliss. She forgot how long she had been dead. In fact, she forgot what happened when she was dead. She just knows it was a hell of a lot better than living.

Lots of people would probably be thrilled with a second chance at life. Who wouldn't want to be able to redo it all? That is why so many went for the option of rebirth. Well, that and they wanted to achieve Isles of the Blest status quo. However, Zoë had already achieved her second chance at life when she joined Lady Artemis. She, Zoë, was a fair person. You had to be when you lived with a dozen other girls for centuries. And as a fair person, she had believed she had had enough chances to repent for her mistakes. She did not need another lifetime to do good, but ultimately make more bad decisions to regret.

She still didn't know why she was brought back to life, and Bianca didn't offer any explanation at all. Zoë thinks Bianca knows why, but is also opting to keep that information secret. In Zoë's opinion, she finds that quite obnoxious.

Then again, that first post-death meeting with Bianca might have been one of the most vague conversations Zoë had ever had in her millennia on Earth. Okay, maybe "vague" wasn't the correct terminology. More to the point where she knew most of the details were not being discussed, and the true leader Zoë happened to be, was royally pissed off with that.

She enjoyed knowing the particulars of any mission: what the purpose was, where it would take place, how long it would take, what the outcome would be, what they would if something went wrong, how they could improvise, etc.

She could presume that indeed, she knew the main mission, and that's what mattered most, but still something discomforted her that Bianca was not offering all she had to offer. Which made her hard to trust, and seeing as they were once sisters, it unsettled Zoë greatly. Especially because this quest, as so to speak, involved death. And if the child of death was keeping secrets about the quest of death, Zoë knew that she could no longer have her full trust in Bianca.

That also left her to wonder where her trust status was at with Percy. At their first encounter she did not like him. She was also stereotyping him because he was male, which Artemis had told her not to do, which was also hypocritical of Artemis to say anyway. But he had long proved he was trustworthy by her death. Of course, now Jackson had no idea who he was. She would think he would trust anyone, but he didn't. He was wary of the Romans, which was a good sign.

The Romans. Zoë knew about them. Lady Artemis does not keep secrets like those. The hunters always noticed that Artemis changed when she entered the West. More violent, more impulsive, more male hating. The hunters were just not allowed to speak of their counterpart relatives to anyone.

And as Percy decided not to trust them, Zoë came to her mind he was a little more trustworthy than Bianca. It was also bad that he didn't trust _them,_ though. The demigods themselves were perfectly fine. They were just brainwashed with that bitch of a wolf.

Lupa and Zoë were not friends. Another reason Zoë knew about the Romans: she was alive when the torch moved to Rome. She was older than Lupa. And to say things gently, they did not get along, and Lady Artemis never would allow Zoë the permission to shoot the friggin' canine.

Also another reason she could trust Percy more. She knew he had ill feelings towards the wolf.

With all this, Zoë was scaring herself. Trusting a boy more than her former sister in arms?

Bianca's shadiness was unnerving Zoë more, and why shouldn't she trust Percy anyway? In the end, he was only going to die. When Zoë thought about that part, it made her more cagey of Bianca. When Percy was to die, her soul would be released and she would be human/demigod again.

Little did Zoë know, but in four months she would come to hate Bianca di Angelo.

**AN: Yeah, sorry for the long wait. Hopefully, I'll get another chapter on Monday, but my teachers like giving more and more projects closer and closer to midterms. Lovely, right?**

**Anyhow, THANK YOU ALL FOR REVIEWING. Hearts for all.**

**To the anonymous reviewers:**

**Random: Thanks! I think you'll come to find that there'll be enough deaths for your satisfaction.**

**page: Thank you. And your welcome? haha**

**www. fanmortals. webs. com (remove the spaces). NOMINATE your favorites.**

**Reviews are golden. CC is the best. Flames are tolerated.**

**You know you love me,**

**Bia**


	7. The Long Con Begins

In the mind of a thirteen year old girl, following the supposed enemy in a desert wasn't the ideal way to spend your Friday. There would be no sleepovers with her best friend. No painting her nails. No brooding over how she hates her parents because they grounded her.

Then again, her Fridays consisted of watching those at the rank of _servus _get beat and bloodied. And then she got bloodied because after watching their torture, it was more time for her rank's training. Being a _dimidium cognatus _and going against a _dominus _was highly painful, and she would not recommend it, but "no one improves fighting at their comfort level". That may be true, but really she didn't understand why it was necessary to wake up at four in the morning and go for a brisk eight mile run. Or why in general, they even trained so hard. It wasn't like they had some major battle to prepare for. They did have a major battle, but that was over, done. And it's not like they were even let out of the base unit to face an actual monster.

Once you're in, you're in for good. Except when you reach _dominus _status, then if you live past your quest, you can decide to leave or stay. Everyone comes back with a permanent scowl and scars that don't heal. Most don't leave anyway. They've been in there so long, either everyone who ever loved them is dead, forgot about them, or just wouldn't believe their made up story.

Not many people reach that high status anyway. Only four people at base unit had achieved it. Well, technically three because Jason left for his quest three months ago, and that was _three months_ ago, so he was probably dead. Not that she cared or anything. Yeah, it was sad that he may be gone forever, but sometimes she wanted to kick him off his high horse. He thought he was better than everyone else. Him and his stupid posse. Strutting around like they owned base. At least he earned his status by working up to _dominus _(okay, and he thought it was his birth right too), but the rest of them weren't even real _dominus_. They may have had a high military rank, but they just _Dimidium Domum Cognatus_. Unlike her and Jason they were not _Domus Sanguinum Purus_.

Not that she liked being grouped as pureblood. Not that it made her feel special to be included. It was just a pretentious composition of bullshit strung together. What a way to stay true to the Roman Republic. At least there was no oppressive emperor who stoned you after being found guilty by the High Court. Well there was Lupa, but she was more of the _primus pilus _as they were to centurions.

And it's not like the High Court ever stoned anyone at base. No, wait they did. She shivers at the memory. It was punishment for the ones who joined the titans. They got their trial, they were also found guilty of treason. Treason, the worst law to there is to break. At base, in the United States...

And the punishment. She doesn't want to think about the bodies that were crumpled on the ground, their form twisted and broken. There was so much blood. And it was they who had to do it. The ones who had stayed loyal. All of them were hesitant. They didn't know what to do. You think they wanted to murder their strangers?

And that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was to those who were insiders, in her opinion. The poor souls that sided with the titans that never set foot in camp. Back then, they thought there were demigods that had never been turned in, but now, she suspects they were Greeks, which explains the harsh punishment. Yes sure, they had a painful, unjust death, but the Romans, oh they died badly.

The High Council members walked out from their judgement. They had been anticipating them to do so for a few minutes after the smoke coming out of the chimney had turned red. A decision had been made. They waited, and in their long robes, the High Council (laurel wreaths in tact), strutted onto the balconey. Lucius Caecilus Iucundus, the head of the High Council, marked by his large laurel wreath atop his head, pulled out the scroll. The other members stayed onminous and silent. It felt like a dark place. At this point, the strangers who had betrayed them had also not got sentenced, and therefore, stood in the centers of the crowd with the Romans. Their hands had been bound together with rope, and the _dominus _stood behind them with their swords at their backs.

"These traitors that stand before you," Caecilus' voice roared. He showed no expression on his face. "Have been put through trial. A fair and just one and a private one. They pleaded their case, and the Council has listened. We have found all defendants accused of treason to be guilty." There was a shout of protest from the crowd, especially from those with the blood of Minerva, who were more level headed when it came to trials and punishments. "As a result," his voice was louder, and the crowd did silence, "they shall be punished by death. It will be a quick one as they are Romans. A beheading. Now," he turned to the non-Roman citizens, "Also found guilty, you are to suffer a worse fate, and though, the Council and I find it ruthless and quite unneccesary in this day and age, we must forever abide to our ancestor's rules. You, children are sentenced to death by stoning."

Hearing the words was nothing like seeing the actual thing. Attendance was mandatory, so everyone gathered around the _tribunal mortis, _separated once the guilty came so they could get through the crowd, which they walked solemnly through after walking on the Bridge of Sighs, named after the real one in Italy. Many were crying, mostly the young girls that faced their death, most just remained solemn.

Five. Five of them had been captured. One by one they stepped onto the platform, put the black sack over their head and just let it happen. The youngest one, a sixteen year old girl, daughter of Apollo went up.

"Please don't put that on me." She begged when the excutioner-a strong burly man that no one knew who he was-held the sack for her to take. "I'm afraid of the dark." She cried. But they put it on her anyway. Moments later, her sobs stopped forever.

Then came the final soul. A boy she knew very well. Wearing his trademark leather jacket and shaggy brown hair, he looked to the crowd and directly peered into her eyes. "Well son of bitch." Were his last and only words his Southern accent said, complete with an award winning smiling. He was the only one that regarded the statue of Justitia behind him. He smirked at the marble thing. It was supposed to symobolize justice. Or maybe only justice blindy seen, and that's why it's eyes were covered. As that day, there was no justice. No freedom. No fairness.

It was things like that that made Gwen want to leave camp, and so she had, but there was a problem with her plan. A) she was only following the Greeks because she wanted to know what they really wanted, and just needed someone to follow. B) if she found out they really wanted to harm the Romans, she had no idea what to do because gods know what her punishment would be, and how would explain how she left. C) there was also potential the Greeks would find her and she would be their _servus._

Gwen made sure her distance from them was great, which wasn't hard, seeing as they were on pegasus's and she was on foot.

By the time she had caught up to their camp site, which had taken her several hours on foot with only a single bottle of water and no food, since she disappeared before breakfast. That could be a big deal to anyone who had never trained by the Roman way. Although, her feet definitely hated the ways of the Romans, she's learned to ignore it.

Lucky for her, the Greeks had also made resting place in tents that suspiciously looked like the ones used by the Hunters of Diana, making it easier for her to conceal herself in a pitiful place only Nevada could say was a wooded area, and easier for her to steal the food they had left out.

They had also left out the two pegasus's, but judging from their tightly closed eyes, and round bellies, the two were not going to be bothersome to Gwen.

Most thirteen year old girls were conscious about what they ate, and how it would affect their body. Nobody at base was like that. When they saw food, typically it lasted about five minutes at the longest. Scarfed down by the hungry, growing trainees, they savored it. Most of them were starving by the time breakfast, lunch, and dinner came by, even though the usually had ten minute breaks between training at four different points during the day, in which they would go to their cabins and eat food stored there. And then there was also the midnight snacks, but Gwen didn't care to think about the monster she was when it came to food because after all, she still was a thirteen year old, and a daughter of Venus at that.

Carefully and quietly; for she had no idea if they were actually sleeping in their tents, she only guessed it because they were making no noise, she grabbed about eight packages of beef jerky that had been left behind. She was tempted to steal a pegasus too, but decided against it because it would make too much noise, though she had learned from a certain son of Mercury the art of thievery, and also had become quite good at it, mostly because she was pretty enough to convince the person accusing her she was innocent, which also made her kind of a slut, which she was pretty sure made mother dearest not so proud of her.

She snuck back to her spot with her newly acquired food and opened one pack victoriously. The first thing she had ever stolen without guidance and without James waiting for her.

_NO! _She thought to herself. Now was not a good time to think about James, the seventeen year old she had befriended and then watched executed. And for terrible reasons too, for James Montgomery was an innocent man. He had never joined the titans, well _sided_ with them really. He was never really in the supporting the titans. And neither was Gwen, just to make that clear. Gwen was just assigned to staying at base because she could never pull off what James was going to do: steal battle map with all the titans's plans, but it must have been some joke map because when he successfully stole it, and brought it back, Lupa was hell-bent. Calling him a trader. That there was no fighting, and no way they, the titans, would bring them into New York. She claimed he was trying to trick them. And well it led to his death. The whole time Gwen had remained silent about her part in the plan, James had told her too, but she still felt guilty, especially because now she knew a whole lot more.

James had stolen a battle plan all right, and one with correct information, but Lupa would never let them go to New York. Then they would have discovered the Greeks. And Lupa never even let the Greeks know. He was innocent. She knew he had done something to help, but because of her damn grudge against them (the one that apparently the Romans still had), she murdered Gwen's friend. She made him a villain at base. The only person, the Romans were glad to see executed.

But there was a lot more to the story that Gwen didn't know. She should have realized that she should never trust a con man.

**AN: Yeah, umm, be happy that I updated. If I get 206 hits and 4 reviews, I get bitchy and don't want to write.**

**Also, I didn't move this, they deleted the Heroes of Olympus section.**

**IT'S NOMINATING SEASON: http:/ fanmortals .webs. com/ (delete the spaces)**

**You know you love me,**

**Bia.**


	8. Roads That Lead Away From Rome

_Rip!_

Percy hoped that was an item of clothing he just tore, and not a muscle he wouldn't feel the stinging burn of because the adrenaline that was pumping through his body right now. He also kind of wonders what article it was too. He would seem kind of silly to be running around with one shoe, or a huge hole in his pants.

But them he has to remind himself not to care about what sort of fashion statement he's making because of The Situation. And not the one from _Jersey Shore._

The Situation was some sort of combination of snake/lizard/dinosaur giant, complete with lovely sharp and curved talons (four per every paw. Was that a paw?), dazzling white neck sized-width and forearm length-sized teeth. It also smelled sharply of acid, which he assumed meant it needed either a bath or was highly poisonous. Probably both because Percy seemed like an all out lucky guy.

The lucky guy himself was in a pretty bad stance right now. Bianca disappeared into thin air as soon the thing appeared, and Zoë told him to run for the hill, while she shot arrows at the thing.

Of course, Percy listened, but the problem with the "run toward the hill thing" was the camp happened to have seven hills, just like the Seven Hills of Rome. Cute. And they hadn't exactly had time to scout over all the hills to figure out which of the ones had the exit in them. This led to Percy running ever so heroically up the first hill he could find, and getting himself stuck against the wall. It also led him to see a hole to burrowed under the wall. So as he had found a potential way out, he had also caught the attention of Mr. Cuddles (his recent nickname for the monster), who decided it would be more fun to eat Percy rather than Zoë, and in return cornered him into the wall.

This was one of the seven billion times Percy wished he had his memory, but unlike the other six hundred and ninety nine times, he didn't care about what his childhood was like, who he killed, who died, or who he really was. He just wanted to remember how use the damn pen so it would be a sword.

He could feel it in his pant pocket. The pen. How did it become a sword? It didn't look like any sort of fancy pen. It was just a pen that looked very used. The cap was bent, and the bottom showed signs of being vaguely chewed. It was the kind of pen you'd see left behind in classroom. You'd think you're lucky, but only to find out it had absolutely no ink at all in it. Yeah, one of those pens.

What was he supposed to do, open the cap and kaboom! A glowing sword!

Then he started to feel something deep down inside himself stirring. Mr. Cuddles was hissing, at any moment he would raise his paw/foot, and Percy would have to dodge it again.

The fuzzy feeling in his head was taking over. Where did Zoë go? Was she dead? And where did Bianca go? Why couldn't she stay?

Oh, this was not good at all…

_"Ms. Dodds?" He said nervously, gripping the ends of his t-shirt. How did she get into the Met so quickly? The speed was so…inhuman. "I'll buy Nancy a new shirt in the gift shop, and stay after school for a month for detention." He passed his way through Greek and Roman relics. A statue of Athena glared at him angrily._

_"Give it back," she hissed. He spied her over by a dish of someone being decapitated. Her back was turned. "I know what you did. They know it too!"_

_Okay, this was really weird, and like even way more scary, but wait Ms. Dodds was only a teacher. An old lady from Georgia. She might have been scary but she was human. She couldn't do anything to him in a public museum._

_He definitely didn't do anything that terrible. Unless it was about his candy stash he was harboring and selling. C'mon. That's not that terrible. If he didn't sell it, he would eat it. And did they really want a kid with ADHD eating loads of candy? Or maybe it was about that book report he copied and pasted? What did that matter? He got an F on it anyway. Wikipedia gave the synopsis of the movie not the book._

_"Ms. Dodds…"_

_"You are the little thief! Return it!" She hissed._

_Whoa. Wait. He was not the klepto. That was Nancy._

_"I didn't steal anything!" Percy really had a bad feeling about this now. And he should because Ms. Dodds erupted into a shrewd bat like creature with her wrinkly human face._

_That was definitely not from Georgia. Maybe a little more southern._

_"Behold, Percy!" He turned his head and saw Mr. Brunner throw something at him. A pen? No. It was a sword._

_He caught it like it was a baseball. Speechless, he had no idea what to do._

_Then Ms. Dodds came zooming toward him. He did the only thing he could think to do: swing at her with the sword._

_Then she exploded into flour._

Now Percy opened his eyes. He was still in the same spot. Mr. Cuddles was still hissing.

The pen! He only needs to uncap!

Mr. Cuddles raises his paw, growling madly.

He shoots his hand into his pocket. There! He's got a grip on it. He pulls it out, and uncaps it, feeling triumphantly awesome.

And nothing happens.

It looks like a cheapo Bic pen ready to write.

Impossible, he thinks. Clearly, he remembers Zoë handing him the sword. A sword.

"Percy!" A girl's voice shouts.

Percy lets out a scream that sounds like, "Aughah!" and moves out of the way, semi getting his bottom half stuck in a too small hole, right before Mr. Cuddles tears up the ground he was just standing in. Wonderful.

He sees Zoë shooting at the monster.

In despair that his sword, the only one he has memory of fighting good with is now broken, he digs the hole deeper. He hears a loud groan, one that is only capable of being produced by Mr. Cuddles. He keeps digging.

A few moments later he hears footsteps clomping toward him.

"What. The. Hell. What were thou thinking?" She demands with an incredulous look on her face. For a second he doesn't see Zoë, instead he sees a girl roughly the same height but paler with dark hair and blue eyes. But it's only a flash.

Percy is not in the mood. He throws her his effed up sword. Or pen, really.

She makes not attempt to catch and looks at it in disgust. "Wonderful. Thy wretched sword."

"It's a _pen_." He corrects. "I opened the cap, and it stayed a ninety nine cent pen."

"Thou must have done something wrong then." She argues, and glares at Percy distastefully. "It works. I know it does. It is not faulty."

"No. It doesn't." He picks it up and uncaps it. As Percy suspects, nothing changes. "I don't know what happened but it doesn't, okay?"

Zoë pales and her eyes get big. Her mouth forms an O. She looks…scared?

"Are you okay?" Percy asks suddenly nervous.

She snaps out of it. "Fine." She answers quickly. "Does thou have any cuts that must be treated?" A nice change in subject, he notes.

She looks perfectly fine. Only a few strands of hair look out of place. He, on the other hand, is covered in dirt from digging it out the whole. His shirt and pants are grass stained from the constant dodges of Mr. Cuddles. Percy can only imagine the mess of the mop of hair that's on his head. And the sole of his left sneaker is partially melted.

"Oh. Uhmm. I guess a few minor ones on my…" He falters staring in awe at his arm. "That's weird." He pokes his arm just in case it's not his.

She looks at him skeptically.

"I swear a few minutes ago they were bleeding." He holds out his arm, which just has pink lines like fading scars.

This time he changes the topic, "so uh, where'd Bianca go? I mean, she like disappeared."

"I don't know!" She says defensively.

"Okay, okay. Gods. I just wondered if you saw her."

The minutes pass in silence. Percy goes back to digging through the hole. A lovely experience to just do with your bare hands. He kind of wishes Zoë would help, but he also doesn't because she'll probably start critiquing his digging dirt methods.

"It's ready now. The hole, I mean. We can go through." Percy gets up out of the semi ditch he's made. "Ladies first."

Zoë motions for him to go.

His face drops. "Funny." He says bitterly.

And for just a second, he swears he sees her smile when he turns back for a moment.

He smiles too when he turn back around.

"Ow!" Percy whines after Zoë smacks his hand away after he tried to help her up from crawling through the hole. "I was trying to help!"

After giving the you-are-so-stupid look, Zoë crawls out of the hole, wipes five grains of dirt she got on herself and stubbornly replies, "I need no help." By the way she purses her lips and avoids eye contact, Percy assumes that she's going all independent on him, or is referring to the male hating thing.

Percy is still wondering when Bianca is going to pop back up, or if she's decided to stay away for a while.

"So where do we go now?"

"I am honestly not sure. Bianca is the one who is in charge." Percy wonders if that was uneasiness he heard in her tone or not. "The others will awaken soon. They will then know thou is no longer there."

"Do you think they'll come after us?"

"No. Lupa would only laugh at those who abandon. Perhaps she will find thou brave for escaping and surviving."

Percy nods, but somehow he's not so sure if Zoë's right. Or even if she believes she's right either. It was something about the way Lupa acted around him.

_I know your intentions, hero. I know where you are from. You're one of them_. Lupa had told him that. She didn't trust him, but was it possible that she would want him to stay? If so, was it so she could wait for him to make the wrong move and end him?

Or was she just scared of him? Of what he could do? After all, people had died for Percy. Was he one of those great rebels?

He inwardly shook his head. That was a stupid thought.

He followed Zoë, who apparently decided to go down the hill. When they reached the bottom, he turned to look back.

"Whoa. That place is huge." The wall easily stretched the length of a good eight football stadiums. He could briefly make out something on the wall. Ones via Roman document, he thinks it says. "When did that volcano get there?" He notes the huge mountainous clump of brown. From here it could easily be mistaken as a mountain, but for some reason, he swears it's a volcano.

He sees a flash of something:

_It's volcano, massive and destructive. A girl is next to him. He tries to think of her name, Alice? Anne?_

_"Let's go. This must be Hephaestus' forge."_

"I don't remember seeing that in there."

Zoë shrugs as if it's no big deal. "Thy must have been too close. I believe it is supposed to replicate Vesuvius."

"Yeah…" Percy pretends to know that it is.

Of course though, Zoë is always able to detect the lack of knowledge coming from Percy, just in case she didn't already make him feel stupid or low enough.

"The Volcano in Pompeii? The one that erupted and turned people to stone?"

"Oh yeah. Reyna told me something about that, I think."

In response, Zoë just huffs.

"It is a wonder why humans are surprised of the repetition of history. They remain indifferent to learning they're faults." She says bitterly.

"I don't if you happened to forget, but I sort of lost my memory, and I don't entirely care to put my whole energy into remembering what landmark is where." Percy bawls his hands up into fists, and shoves them into his pocket. Why does he always have to be so inferior? What did he ever do to Zoë? To make matters worse, his hand is shoved up against that stupid pen.

Of course when he finally gets his sword back and it's a useless pen. How is he supposed to defend himself now? Write little notes to the monsters?

Dear monster,

Please don't eat me.

Love Percy.

Yeah, what a great hero he'll look like then.

"Did I come back at a bad time?" It's another female voice. Not Zoë's. This one is quieter and younger.

"Where have you been?" Zoë says.

Bianca looks down as if she was embarrassed. "I guess I'm not a good ghost. The monster scared me, and I just went poof! and returned to the Underworld." In the rising sun, she looked sort of transparent. Less human than in the forest. Either way, Percy was relieved to see her back.

Zoë, Percy noticed, didn't look like she believed her. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but against her better judgment, she shut it.

"Where to now?"

Bianca smiled, "Now we get to recover your memories."

"Why? I mean, don't get me wrong; I want to remember, but…"

"You're important, Percy, trust me. The dead know things that the living do not. Things concerning the future. I-we, really-need you to remember all the important things in your life. Once you do, well, we'll get there." Percy was hoping the incredibly dark tone was just for a dramatic effect, but deep down, Percy knew how this would all end.

"First stop," Bianca interrupts, "the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts. I hope everyone likes to Shadow Travel!"

**AN: Yeah so it's been awhile… See, school decided to be a jerk and load me with projects and midterms. However, I did good on those midterms, so celebrate to that! But I also had vacation in February where I should have written something. *gives permission to be shunned for life***

**I don't know what religions of lack thereof you guys follow, but my friend's mom who this chapter is dedicated for has cancer, so if you could maybe put in a prayer/11:11 wish for her, I'd love you forever.**

**IT'S VOTING SEASON: http:/ fanmortals. webs. com/votingcategories. htm (delete the spaces)**

**Also, I have a poll for any couples you might want to see happen on my profile.**

**Reviews are golden. CC = a godsend. Flames? It's winter, I'm cold.**

**You know you love me,**

**Bia**


	9. Not All Prophecies Are Spoken

Thalia loved mornings. Fresh starts, new beginnings. The way the sunrises, and makes the dullest landscape seem filled with possibilities. It's not something that she had ever had taken into account before joining the hunters. Sunsets. Endings. That's what she always saw. What everyone sees.

It was something about the way that dawn breaks into the sky, and takes away the darkness. As they say, the darkness may fall but the sun also rises.

Even though Artemis set the moon into the night, Thalia always anticipated Apollo bringing the sun back.

No. She should not be thinking this right now. This always happens. Later. She can fall in love with the sunrise later. She has a routine. She must follow it. She closed her eyes. Isn't that what everyone does when they're trying to think?

The first question was easy.

_What's my name?_ She thought. Simple, _Thalia Grace_

_Why did you leave home?_ Still not that hard. _My mother had a drinking problem, and then she gave Jason away._

The third one. It was always harder.

_What happened on Halfblood Hill?_ She had to concentrate hard. This detail was something she didn't like to think about. It was harder to put into words. Being a tree had mixed up her mind. Her dreams that were only dreams sometimes messed up what her reality was. _I almost died. Maybe I did. My essence was preserved in a tree, and Percy saved me when Luke tried to kill me. _

Three questions she asked herself every morning. So when the eons passed. She would never forget who she was. Sure she knew the answers pretty easily now, but they were fairly recent in terms of hunter memories. So many hunters had blank minds when it came to their past. It scared Thalia. She wanted to be more than just Artemis' companion. She was Thalia Grace. She had a history. It shouldn't be forgotten.

And now that third question was very, very important. _Percy saved me... _She owed him that much, didn't she?

The best part of the motel was that it looked like they could be the next location for a horror movie or set for _Law & Order_ (maybe the Los Angeles one, seeing as this was California.) was the possibility that you might get a room with a working air conditioner.

All four of the group had been traveling by foot for at least two hours. The pegasi had gotten too tired, and had not had enough proper rest in order to fly the rest of them there. Camp Halfblood spoils their pegasi, if one could not tell.

Unfortunately for them, also, California weather was not all bikinis and tans. No not in the desert. At night it was freezing. Cold enough for Nico to actually allow himself to be hugged. Of course his excuse was "for the body heat". But well, hint to the word "excuse". Once the sun rose, it didn't get any better. Well maybe a little if you prefer the heat. And by heat meaning the sun beating down full throttle on unsuncreened teenagers. All one hundred and two degrees of it. It made the cold seem like a long forgotten dream.

Everything seemed so long ago. Had they really broke into the Roman camp? Almost died? And failed?

_Failed_. That word was not a part in Thalia's vocabulary. Failure was completely unacceptable. And she would have taken out those obnoxious Romans if the others weren't such scared little girls.

Seriously. No wonder they thought of Greeks as "the great thinkers". Words are nice, but not when there's an army wielding weapons, and not giving a crap about your life. If they were anything like their ancestors, then the Romans were bred to be killing machines.

Thalia still thought she could take them. Would Zeus really stand by, and let her get massacred again? Would Artemis?

Nope. Thalia answered herself in her head. Hell, she'd just call Jason, and they could do some total lightning damage. Least to say, it would have been wicked. Then y'know Lupa and her clique would have been blown away. They would be forced to give up Percy.

See? How simple. None of this lying about him being dead, which was total bullshit according to Nico. He would be with them. Nico and Annabeth and Jason could go back to New York with Percy. Thalia could go back to adventuring with the hunters. All would return to life as it was known.

But no. They had to be total Greeks and forced to retreat. Without Percy. Gods know what the Romans would do with him now that they knew the Greeks knew where he was. Gods, they'll probably move him to some place else.

Thalia Grace was not going to GitMo with this band of "philosophers". Next time she'd just bring herself. And Jason because he does whatever she says.

There was also something else that they could have avoided. Something very important that Thalia noticed from her time with the hunters. The thought started in the night. It was just a small noise. Barely noticeable if noticeable at all. It could have just been the wind, which is what she had thought, and she really wanted it to have been the wind; the night was begging her to finally go to sleep. But just that small scuffle of something. Only a trained ear of a hunter could pick up. Then in the morning. Thalia always counted rations. Rations of everything. The sleeping bags, backpacks, tents, clothes, and the food. It all mattered when you're so far away from civilization. The numbers didn't add up. Thalia never counted wrong.

She couldn't bring up her conclusion. Not now. Soon, though. Very soon.

It didn't look any classier on the inside, the motel that is. In fact, the place probably went from one star to negative fifteen.

"Oh my." Jason said taking in the place. From the crumpling paisley wall paper that could once have been a custard yellow but now a rotting brown to the clerk, possibly Victor Hugo's inspiration from Quasimodo. The rest of the interior wasn't looking so beautiful either.

"Well Thalia, you're the one holding the money." Annabeth said.

"I recall you insisting to hold it." Nico added. The three of them snorted. Thalia did not. It wasn't her fault she thought they were too incompetent to handle the money were given. It's an insult to them!

"Hey buddy," Thalia started, not bothering being polite. It's not like being brash would get them kicked out of a motel that hadn't housed anything legal in the last fifty years. "One room for the day."

The guy, who most likely had been working there since the place opened, looked at the money Thalia was holding, practically in his face.

"For all four of yuhs?" He asked, scanning the faces of their crowd.

Thalia inwardly shivered at the row of teeth missing in his mouth.

"Yes."

"Can't do that. Two per room." He grumbled, going back to read his-or Thalia thought more accurately to look at the pictures of his- NASCAR magazine.

"I want one room. Now look at the money. Do you know how much this is?" He eyed it again, not showing any sort of signs of caring. "It's probably enough to buy this whole place. I want one room. Is that clear?"

He grumbled some sort of "yeah", and went to get a key.

"And make it the clean room!" Thalia shouted to him.

"We could of just taken two rooms." Jason said, obviously not enjoying Thalia's theatrics.

"I wanted one!" She barked back at him. Feeling satisfied that he at once gazed down at the floor. What a fine sibling she could have been.

"Did you give him all our money?" Annabeth sounded mad. Great more temper tantrums from her, Thalia inwardly groaned. "We were only given three hundred..." Uh oh, she could see the gears turning in Annabeth's brain. Smart people. They could be more obnoxious than dumbasses. "You used the mist, didn't you? You didn't pay anything." She narrowed her eyes.

Thalia shrugged.

"Gods. You're insufferable."

"Whatever works works." Nico added.

Apparently getting the keys was a hard job. It had been at least twenty minutes. Which is quite a long time for three (Jason had never been diagnosed.) ADHD diagnosed kids.

"I'll go see what's taking him so long." Nico offered, and walked behind the counter and through the door where the clerk had disappeared into.

The impulsiveness of this pleased Thalia.

Annabeth not so much. She muttered something about stupidity and followed after him. Of course the others followed.

"_Di immortales!_" They heard Nico say before they reached him. The room was dusty, like not vacuumed, you'll probably get asthma from just thinking about how dusty it was dusty.

Besides the ring of keys hanging low on the counter, which Thalia helped herself to. In fact she took the whole ring. Then she heard _crunch _of what she just had stepped on.

The NASCAR magazine.

She saw what the others were looking at. A large pile of dust. Only this one had more subsidence too it. Just like a-

"Monster." Annabeth confirmed.

"I knew he was a monster!" Thalia said, fingering each a key.

"Then why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't want to be wrong."

"You told me you were never wrong." Jason coughed at the large amount of non-monster dust that flooded his lungs.

"More importantly," Nico interrupted, "How did he just die?" Uneasy looks passed on their faces.

Annabeth shook her head, frustrated that there wasn't a logical answer for her to come up with.

"C'mon. Let's just get out of here." She said, and started walking back.

"And go where?" Nico questioned.

She grabbed a key from Thalia. "Room 002. It's dead, and there's four of us with weapons, and two getaway flying horses outside."

The rest followed. Thalia was more hestitant. She scanned the room. Closely. It had to be around there somewhere…

There. She found it by the door they came in from.

Annabeth's cap of invisibilty. The answer to who killed the monster. That must have been what was taken last night. She had her suspicions about the stolen item. Now they were confirmed that the Yankee cap was the loot.

They could still be inside. Watching. Waiting. Listening.

Which is how Thalia approached the subject when they shut the door to Room 002. She didn't even waste time yelling at Nico to not sit on the bed because the place was most definitely full of bed bugs. Or to comment about the wonderful brown streak that was soaked onto the wall. Or to complain that it smelled like an outhouse that hadn't been cleaned for years.

"Keep a better eye on your stuff, Annabeth." Thalia threw her the baseball hat, "it makes getting stalked like a hundred times easier when they can be invisible."

"What?" Annabeth said. She didn't like being accused. Gods forbid if Annabeth ever did anything wrong.

"We're being followed. I heard them last night. They must have taken your hat then. When we were putting away our food, we had less rations than we had divided."

Annabeth sighed a very aggravated sigh. "Why did you not mention this?"

"I could have been wrong."

"I thought you said you were-"

"We where in a desert! It could have been a mirage!" Thalia defended herself, cutting Jason off. "And I had a feeling they took your hat. I couldn't just throw it into the air that I knew they were there when they could have been breathing down our backs!"

Annabeth nodded, understanding Thalia's point. "Then who-" Her eyes narrowed, but Nico answered for her. "Romans."

"We have to tell Chiron, and get to camp now. We can't be followed. They probably want to kill us. Get information and kill us." She stuck her hand into her jeans, digging to find a drachma.

"We can't go to camp, Annabeth. We can't lead the Romans to the exact location of it."

Knowing that Thalia was right. Again. Annabeth sighed. So many things had already gone wrong in this quest already.

And now they needed to change their plans again.

**AN: My b for the long update. However, let's all rejoice for the summer. More updates! Well for a little while at least. See instead of waking up in the afternoon, and Tumblering, and texting enough times to dramatically increase the bill, my mom thought I should **_**learn *gasp* **_**over the summer. Like go to camp. And learn. Math.**

**I'm crying too, don't worry.**

**If I get to 101 reviews, I'll update by Tuesday.**

**You know you love me.**

**Bia**


	10. Stranger in a Stranger Land

**For Ariana and Suede, who didn't deserve what they went through.**

**For Mackenzie, who deserves to have a mom**

**AN: Chapter re-upload. It wasn't showing up for some people.**

There were probably several terrifiying experiences that Percy had gone through in his lifetime. The only recent ones were from the last three months. The first was when he just woke up at camp. He was there, like literally there at the bottom of one of the seven hills. It wasn't one won of those being passed out and waking up things. No. This was fully awake in a place where you knew you just couldn't be there. It was impossible.

"What?" This guy—not much older than Percy—said with a dazed expression on his face. He scampered off before Percy could respond, which probably be something like, "_whut?"_

He had shaken off that thought, and came back to the original thought. What was he doing here? Then he knew he shouldn't have been, but why? Why shouldn't he have been there. This place looked perfectly fine. An aboundance of hills, green grass, teenagers that speak and run away. Nothing that says to get the hell out. Except the large feeling in his stomach.

Fight or flight?

There wasn't anything around to fight. There wasn't anything to be afraid of. So what was there to run away from? Nothing. Then again, where would he run to? In fact as he thought about it, he didn't have the slightest clue where he had came from or why he was brought here.

Or what he was doing in the area.

Or what he did yesterday.

Or where he lived.

Or who his mother was.

Or who he was.

That's partly what became so terrifying about this event because he knew that usually when someone loses their memory they don't usually remember that have a mother and a stepdad. That they have a chemistry test the day right after winter break ends, and that they need to pass it so they don't flunk chemistry for the term. And in general they don't remember that most people who lose their memories aren't supposed to remember these things.

_Who are you?_ That brought the second most truly terrifying thing. Lupa and her voice. Those big eyes that are as cold as the moon. They reminded him of someone else. Someone who also had eyes like the moon. Someone else, whose first glance brought intimidation and mistrust.

They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Percy wasn't sure how true that particular statement was, but there was definitely something in these eyes that showed who Lupa was.

And it wasn't a loving natured soul that he saw, but it also wasn't an evil force.

"I'm Percy." He said. That sounded right because it wasn't what his brain was thinking. His brain was thinking a thousand different things like how wolves shouldn't talk, but he's seen weirder. Wait what's weirder than that? And how he really just shouldn't be here right now, and that certain people and monsters would be looking for him. Wait. Monsters?

Luckily for him his lips weren't thinking a thousand different things at a million miles per hour.

_Percy what? How did you get through the borders?_

Too bad this time his lips and his brain couldn't answer the wolf's questions.

"It's just Percy. I don't know the rest. I don't know how I got through the borders. I was just here, and before that I was… Not here?" Although, he managed to keep his voice from breaking or quivering, and managed to stand up tall, the truth was he was scared. Scared because he was Percy on a hill talking to wolf and nothing else.

"He's lying!" One of the teenagers—decked out in gladiator appareal—standing by the wolf accused.

_Silence, _the wolf said but not like a shout—more like a simple command. _I heard his heartbeat. He is telling the truth. _Never once taking her eyes off of Percy she turned question speech back to him. _So tell me Just Percy_, _what do you want?_

He wanted to say that he could use some answers, or what this place was.

"My identity."

The second one was the first dream he had that night at camp.

Percy couldn't fall asleep that first night. Maybe it because it was really cold and this blanket did no justice. Or because a giant wolf interrogated him hours ago. Either way, sleep wasn't going to come easy for, and of course, sleeping was the one thing he wanted to do. Isn't that how it works? You get amnesia, and suddenly you get a whole bunch of memories that make you feel warm and cozy on the inside after a goodnight's worth of sleep.

Or get that one kiss that brings everything back. However that didn't seem likely because no one at this place knew him.

When finally he did fall asleep, he had a dream, but not one that warmed his heart. Unfortunately he would also be plagued with this dream for the next three months.

In this dream, Percy was no wearing any shoes, which was unfortunate because the sand he stepped on was not the sun-baked, soft ocean sand. It was cold, hard sand that was mixed in with rocks, and _ow! _What must have been very sharp fragments of precious stone. He made that conclusion based on the not fragments of rubies and ugly raw diamonds that dotted the landscape in random clumps.

Trees were dispersed in clumps too. Some just ordinary trees, others were bearing fruit. Fruit that looked really good. In fact if one of the pomegranate trees that weren't so far way he would be happy to pick one off…

That would be if he could gather the courage to walk the two hundred feet to the nearest one, but the atmosphere of doom and gloom weren't exactly helping him. The fog that was grabbing onto him, and the pitch-black sky wasn't doing any more justice.

Thanks to the darkness of the place, he guessed that it was still nighttime. Or maybe that was just a really huge ceiling because there was no moon, no stars. Altogether with the discomforting silence of this place, Percy felt very, very alone.

He didn't know why, but he started to walk away from where he was standing and over to a river that flowed by, taking him farther away from the fruit trees. Water had this weird calming effect on him. It always made him feel better. Maybe it was because the only thing he could do right at camp was the canoe racing, or maybe it was something else. Truthfully he didn't give two craps, he just liked being near the water, and that was good enough.

The water didn't criticize him for not knowing who he was, the water didn't brutally beat the crap out of him during sword and spear wielding practice, and the water certainly didn't accuse him of being a liar. Also the water didn't think he was a freak and avoid/sneer nastily at him. Which was much how his fellow campers had acted towards him so far. With the exception of Reyna. This girl that was far too excited about every aspect of camp, and showing him just how awesome it could be.

"Okay you have got to watch this!" Reyna said, dragging Percy over to watch the sword fight currently going on. "It'll be awesome! Justin and Tyler are in the arena. It'll be crazy!" Percy just nodded in a response.

During the whole thing—which Percy decided consisted of two people trying to get as close as they can to killing each other, but not legitimately killing each other—Reyna made comments as to what they were doing, and the rest of the crowd cheered every time something violent happened. This is when Percy had decided that absolutely every one of them was psychologically disturbed.

"That was awesome! Yes!" Reyna had cheered when Tyler had gotten a hold of both swords and had them directly pointed at Justin's throat, ending the match.

But besides Reyna, everyone else was like—on a scale of one to one hundred—one hundred and ten percent distrustful of him. Percy didn't even know how that worked anyway, but it sounded perfectly reasonable despite the fact that math might argue against it.

And when he caught on to their attitudes all he thought was: _not again_. And then immediantly: _wait, what do I mean not again?_

So Percy had decided that people should just be more like water. More like this river. He had begun to lean over and touch the nice, calm water, but a voice had interrupted him.

"I would not do that, hero. Not unless you want to forget everything." The female voice had sounded warm and familiar. It made him feel safe, but at the same time also had a stern quality to it that only a mother could have. A warning that touching that water would get him in a lot of trouble.

When he had looked back behind him there was nobody there.

Sighing, he had turned back around and nearly screamed loud enough to wake the dead because right there in front of him was a young girl shorter than he was looking up patiently at him. Although he didn't know it at the time that that was Bianca di Angelo, and she certainly was not the matronly voice.

"Hi Percy."

Percy moved a few feet back.

"Who are you?" He asked, trying not to show that his heart was beating out a very fast paced rhythm. "And how did you just get _here._" He pointed to where she was standing.

"I could ask you the same." She shrugged, not making such a big deal out of the thing. "Only I can actually answer your question."

"Okay," he answered because he was waiting for her to tell him. "So who are you?"

She paused for a few seconds before deciding to say, "what color is my necklace?"

He looked at her blankly, and gazed down towards her neck, and of course there was no necklace that she was wearing. Percy looked at her hands to see if she was holding one, and then at the ground to see if maybe the girl had dropped it, and no, there was no necklace there.

"You're not wearing a necklace."

"Just tell me the color."

"There is no necklace." Percy argued. He was losing his patience at the girl, who kept her cool.

"The color, Percy. What is the color?"

"I don't know!" He barked at her. Percy could feel his cheeks blazing. "And to be honest, I don't care about your jewelry. I just want to know who you are—like you said you would—okay? And how do you know my name?"

Still keeping her calm she said, "I never said I would tell you. I said I could answer your questions, but if you can tell me what color my necklace is, then I will gladly tell you who I am. And I won't even have to tell you how I got here because you will know."

"You're not wearing a necklace." Percy glared at her, still not happy at this. "If you were wearing a necklace, I would _gladly_," he mocked her voice and smile, "tell you what color it is."

She just shook her head.

"Oh dear Percy." She sounded awfully sad even though she kept a sweet smile. "If you know the color, you know the name. If you know the name, you'll know everything you need to know. Although I'm afraid that our meeting has to be cut short tonight. It's time for you to wake up."

And the last thing he thought before waking up was that the air smelled a lot like death.

Then there were those other scary experiences like Zoë under the water, Bianca bursting into flames, and his sword not working when it really should have just worked, but then again that would mean life was making things a bit easier for Percy, and that would be outrageous.

Still none of those scary feelings could compare to this.

And this was the evilness known as shadow traveling.

Although Percy did agree with Bianca that it was a rather fast form of travel. Though albeit a truly terrifying thing. And like all things unpleasant to Percy, a vaguely familiar feeling.

Moments later the three of them were standing outside the area of upstate New York. The campus hadn't changed since he was first there in 2005. The forests were still green and vast, the grass was still cut to be exactly the same height- each and every blade. The brick covered buildings still had ivy clinging to the side of them. And—much like the first time Percy had ever set foot on the campus—Percy did not want to be here.

"Okay. Next destination!" Percy said, turning his back on the school.

"Not so fast," Bianca said as both her and Zoë grabbed an arm and turned him around.

"Tell me about." Bianca insisted, but not in annoying way.

That was the last thing that Percy wanted to do right now. Describe this place. What should he say? 'Well this is the place is personification of hell on Earth, and everything just went downhill from here. Only I don't why or how it went downhill. It just started here.'

"This is Yancy Academy. I went to school here for a whole year before I got kicked out. I hated it here." He said glumly.

"Where did they take you on a field trip?"

"The Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts." He answered automatically without thinking about it. "Which is where I got my sword because Ms. Dodds was actually a fury and actually trying to kill me, and not just via math-related material." He's quite surprised with how he was able to remember all that. He can see it now. See those memories play in his head.

"Very good." Bianca smiles, and grabs each of their hands. Then they're shadow travelling again, and Percy wonders if this time his skin is ripping off of his face.

Then the terror ends, and what he sees fills him with warmth and happiness because he knows exactly where they are (again), which is an accomplishment all by itself (and for the second time today.).

Montauk. That's where they are. The ocean is beautiful as always. Today in the dead of March it's a gray-green, which is probably the prettiest thing he's seen since he lost his memory.

He wishes his mom was here. She would love to see it like this.

But then he remembers how this is where Grover came in, and somewhere along the lines he lost his pants, and half of him was part like pig or something to that extent and then they left because the minotaur was trying to eat them.

And then… Then the minotaur killed his mom.

He explained all of this to them. Bianca nodded and took them off again.

This time he didn't know the place, but it had a familiar draw to it, like it was pulling him towards it.

"What are you doing?" Zoë hissed at Bianca. "Thou told me no one else could know about him! Have thou lied to me?"

Like always Bianca kept her calm, though Percy was kind of freaking out on the inside.

"Calm down we won't go any closer. We couldn't. This mist is shrouding us from seeing if anyone is standing watch at the hill."

Zoë seemed to relax a little bit. Which meant she wasn't throwing death glares at anyone, but still ready to attack anything that might show the slightest interest in coming near her. Percy decided that it might be a good time to back away as Zoë was mad and he was a male.

He looked through the tree branches that were obscuring his vision from the place Bianca and Zoë had been debating. Still he was only just drawn to it but for no particular reason. He was careful not to step on anything, and slowly walked a few inches farther. Just to get a better view. Or at least that's what he had told himself.

The three of them were in a forest so if this "mist" was shrouding their vision, he was pretty sure this forest was hiding them from anyone who was looking for them.

Although he didn't see why there would be anyone here. There was absolutely nothing interesting about this place. Absolutely no pretty ocean, either. Or at least as far as he could see.

The whole place looked about as tourist friendly as the bottom of his shoe. Snow still covered the ground, but not pretty sparkling, white snow. This snow was end-of-the-winter snow. It was melting and slushy and mixed in with dirt.

"Percy," Bianca said, bringing his attention to her. "What do you know about this place?"

"Nothing," he shrugged, turning back to see the large hill with a single pine tree on it.

**AN: It's been quite a long time since I updated, but to be fair I had started on this chapter back in July. Just to be clear when I said I wanted 102 or however many reviews I meant individual reviewers, and that's why I didn't update sooner. Though I do appreciate those who reviewed multiple chapters as they read. I am quite lazy and wait till I get to the latest chapter to review.**

**And also I just want to throw out that if any of flame, I might suggest that you just don't. I used to flame, but it's just plain out mean to do. Although I have never gotten a flame, I know that they can be hurtful and awfully rude to read. I say this because one of the people I have dedicated this chapter to committed suicide over the summer due to cyberbullying, and I think flaming counts as that.**

**Also you should vote for you favorite pairing on my poll because I like weird pairings, and I don't think you'd want to read about them.**

**Reviews are golden, which means review because then I update.**

**You know you love me,**

**Bia**


End file.
